Church Of St Cuthbert

Church of St Cuthbert, Portsmouth

A church built in 1914–15 to the design of E Stanley Hall. It is constructed in red and grey brickwork laid in Flemish bond with half-round red clay roof tiles. The original apse at the east end was destroyed by bombing during the Second World War and has been replaced with a post-war reconstruction. The church is designed in the Byzantine style.

The plan comprises a two-bay aisled nave with a one-bay chancel. To the north-east is a vestry and organ loft, while the south-east contains a Lady Chapel. The main entrance is a west porch with an additional entrance on the south side. A bell tower rises to the left of the Lady Chapel.

The south elevation features a lower vestibule on the far right with a two-leaf linen-fold boarded door and fanlight with leaded lights, set within a stepped brick opening under a round brick arch with dripstone and flanked by a stepped buttress. Two large double-width buttress walls, each pierced with a rounded arch, rise from the aisle level to the mid-point of the nave, one at the left corner and one to the left of the tower. Between and flanking these buttresses are three leaded-light windows with recessed brick jambs and sills, their flat arches featuring four courses of brick tiles in stretcher bond set beneath a round brick arch with diamond-pattern brickwork in the tympanum. The aisle is topped with a decorated brick parapet and stone coping. Round-headed brick clerestory windows light the nave, with recessed brick jambs, a brick tiled band, and a decorated brick parapet with stone band and coping. The projecting bell tower rises to the right, accessed by an entrance porch with a recessed two-leaf linen-fold boarded door and fanlight beneath a round stepped brick arch. The tower features vertical recessed brick panels above the nave roof with a moulded stone band, diamond-pattern brick panels, and stone coping. Its circular stone upper tier consists of an open arcade of short stone columns with rounded arches and diagonal brick buttresses at each corner. A projecting stone cornice supports a pierced stone octagonal turret topped with a lead dome. The tower returns to left and right have two tiers of two narrow casements each, set under segmental brick arches. To the right of the tower is a low, flat-roofed Lady Chapel with three leaded-light windows set within recessed brick panels with brick-tiled flat arches beneath round brick arches with brick tympana, flanked by pilaster buttresses.

The west elevation has clasped pierced buttresses to the left and right of the nave, similar to those on the south but each continuing as a flat pilaster buttress to the roof coping. At the centre is a wide recessed brick panel with a round arch. Decorated brickwork with tile-slip bands appears at eaves level and on the facing stone gable. Three recessed clerestory windows with leaded lights are set beneath round-headed brick arches. A lower projecting vestibule at the centre contains a brick porch with a recessed two-leaf linen-fold boarded door beneath a round brick arch and curved stone pediment. On either side of the porch are two windows matching those of the aisle.

The north elevation is similar to the south, but features a two-storey vestry and organ loft at the east end. The east elevation has at its centre a recessed round-arched brick panel with three recessed windows, each set beneath a round brick arch within a recessed panel. Diagonal brickwork appears in the tympanum, with a range of short brick pilasters below the sill.

The interior contains north and south arcades, each bay of which features three recessed round-headed brick arches supported on two central stone columns with cushion capitals and bases, flanked by pilasters set between massive brick piers. Each brick pier contains a round-headed brick arched opening set in a recessed brick panel beneath a stone band, above which is a full-width recessed brick panel with a round brick arch. Three clerestory windows are set within each bay. A brick barrel vault spans the nave from north to south across the full width of the brick piers, with groined plaster ceiling vaults between. The single-bay chancel has north and south arcades similar to those of the nave except that the stone columns and pilasters have scalloped capitals and the openings between columns are infilled with moulded timber screens. On the north side, a door at the centre of the screen leads to passages, vestries, and the organ loft. The organ loft opens to the left. The barrel-vaulted ceiling has three windows on each side cutting through the vault. At the west end is a low vestibule containing two stone columns similar to the nave arcade, with the main entrance doors at the centre and a porch to the left. The east window of the chancel contains stained glass dating to 1959 by Osmund Caine.