Cathedral Church Of St John The Evangelist

PORTSMOUTH

SU6300 EDINBURGH ROAD 774-1/8/11 (North side) 10/01/53 Cathedral Church of St John the Evangelist

II

Roman Catholic cathedral. 1877-81 by J Crawley; 1881-96 by J Hansom; 1906 by Canon Alexander Scoles; restored following bomb damage 1945-50; re-ordered 1971. Red brick in Flemish bond with Portland stone dressings; plain tile roof. Decorated style. PLAN: 6-bay nave with clerestory; 6-bay aisles, western bays canted, north aisle with apsidal chapel (1925) new baptistry; west portal and 2 bell turrets (1906); crossing with transepts (1886); chancel with apse, north and south chapels, and south porch (1893). EXTERIOR: offset plinth; strings; eaves bands; gableted buttresses with offsets rising into gableted and crocketed finials; traceried windows, mostly of 2-lights with 3-light windows to clerestory and some spherical triangle windows, all having hoodmoulds and sill strings (tracery of all but south transept window restored 1945-50); board doors with decorative iron hinges in pointed-arched surrounds of several orders with carved tympana; brick parapet to nave, pierced ashlar parapet to chancel, similar blind parapet to baptistry; cross finials. West end: portal has elaborate central door in projecting gableted surround flanked by 3-light windows: a door to each return; nave has tripled 2-light windows, stepped spherical triangle over, flanked by octagonal bell towers with slit windows, louvred belfry openings, spires, and metal finials. South transept has a blind arcade below round window with spherical triangle to gable. 5-light window to north transept. Decorative metal gate in front of chancel south door. INTERIOR: pointed arched arcades and openings having clustered columns with decorative leafy capitals. Vaulted wooden ceilings with moulded ribs, pierced bands, and cusped trusses; plainer roofs to aisles. Good quality fittings include marble altar and reredos to Lady Chapel, tessellated chapel floors and free standing stations of the cross. (Balfour A: Portsmouth: Highgate Hill, N19: 1970-: 57, 58; Lloyd DW: Buildings of Portsmouth and its Environs: Portsmouth: 1974-: 129, 130; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Lloyd DW: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight: Harmondsworth: 1973-: 431, 432; Hubbuck R: Portsmouth: 1969-1976: 21; Offord J: Church, Chapels and Places of Worship on Portsea Island:

Southsea: 1989-: 102, 103, 104).

Listing NGR: SU6610802158