Christ Church

Christ Church is a Neo-Norman style church built in 1874 and designed by J Colson. It stands on London Road, Portsdown, and is constructed of flint with stone dressings and plain tiled roofs.

The church comprises a 4-bay aisled nave, a 1-bay chancel with an apsidal end, a north organ loft, and a south vestry and chapel. A south-west tower with a south-west entrance porch projects from the main structure.

The tower rises in three stages with clasping pilaster buttresses and a stone coped plinth. The west face features, at first-stage level, a 2-leaf round-headed boarded door with ornate iron strap hinges, set beneath a round stone arch decorated with zig-zag ornament, a banded hoodmould, rusticated stone jambs, and flanking colonnettes. The second stage has shallow clasping pilasters. Above this is a small narrow splayed stone round-headed window with diamond pattern leaded lights and plain glass, with an oculus above and a stone band. The third stage contains two narrow splayed stone openings, each with a round arch and horizontal louvres, stone hoodmould, and band. The tower terminates in a stone parapet and coping. The south face is similar to the west except at first-stage level, which has two narrow round-headed windows instead of one door. The north and east faces have similar third-stage louvred windows.

To the left of the tower, the nave's west face displays two long narrow windows, each set beneath a stone round arch with rusticated jambs. A clasping buttress projects at the north corner. At high level is an oculus with a plain stone surround. The facing gable is topped with a stone finial.

To the left of the nave, the north aisle's recessed face contains a 2-light stone window, with each light set beneath a round stone arch and a round stone relieving arch spanning the pair. At the north corner, where the aisle meets the nave, a stone porch with a round-headed boarded door is positioned. The south face of the aisle has four paired stone round-headed windows with rusticated jambs, flanked by pilaster buttresses. The chancel, which has a lower roof, features similar but shorter paired windows. The apse at the east end has three wide round-headed stone windows with short flanking pilaster buttresses topped with stone weathered caps, and a stone parapet.

To the south of the apse, the vestry and chapel have a boarded entrance door set beneath a round stone arch with rusticated jambs. Adjacent to this doorway are stone steps leading to a boiler room. To the north of the apse is a similar doorway.

Internally, the nave arcades comprise stone columns with Norman capitals and moulded stone round arches. The nave and chancel have boarded ceilings with timber trussed rafter roofs. The aisles have scissor-braced roofs with boarded ceilings. The east windows contain stained glass, as do the aisle windows, which feature work by Mr Farrer Bell created circa 1952 to 1961 commemorating various local figures. The two west windows contain D-Day Second World War memorial stained glass by Reginald Bell, created circa 1948.