Church Of Ascension

The Church of Ascension is an Anglican church built between 1924 and 1926 by Sir Charles Nicholson. It is constructed of red brick in English bond with stone dressings, designed in a Gothic style. The layout includes a nave and chancel combined, with north and south aisles featuring chapels at the east end. The church is situated on a slope, with an entrance vestibule located under a squat west tower at a lower level, which has stairs leading to the west ends of the aisles.

The exterior features tall aisles with parapets and brick coping, while the nave includes a clerestory. The west tower, originally intended to be taller, has a plain stair turret on the south side, four-light bell-openings, and a two-centred arch west doorway with multiple brick orders. The aisles and clerestory are adorned with three and two-light windows that have straight heads and cusped ogee lights, and the north and south transeptal chapels contain large lancet windows. The chancel has canted corners and a large rose window with curvilinear tracery set in a square frame above five-light lancets, along with a flat-roofed single-storey vestry below.

Inside, the church features plastered walls, stone arcades, and dressings. The roofs are low-pitched, with the nave roof left unpainted as originally intended, while the chancel roof is finely painted and panelled. The church has six-bay arcades supported by octagonal stone piers with moulded capitals and fillet shafts, featuring triple-chamfered two-centred arches. There is a three-bay arcade leading to the north chancel chapel, which has a rib-vaulted roof. A large arch leads to the chancel south chapel, which houses an organ in a loft. The altar, designed by Nicholson, is decorated by Randall Blacking. There are screens to the chapels and a later chancel screen in classical style by Blacking. The church also contains an 18th-century pulpit from King's College Chapel, a font with an open ogee cover, and fine stained glass by A.K. Nicholson and G.E.R. Smith, including the west window depicting the Ship of the Church. The entrance vestibule under the west tower features rib-vaulting and stone stairs leading to the aisles.