Christ Church Herne Bay Parish Church

Christ Church is a parish church on William Street in Herne Bay, originally built in 1834-5, probably by the architect Alfred Bower Clayton. The building was constructed of stock brick and has been substantially enlarged and altered over subsequent decades.

The church began as a simple, utilitarian structure initiated by local inhabitant John Brough and opened between June 1834 and June 1835. Initially built as a non-denominational meeting house, it was purchased in 1837 by Thomas Wilson, who attempted to unite different Christian worshippers through partial use of the Church of England liturgy. This arrangement proved unsuccessful, and Wilson sold the building in 1839 to members of the Anglican Church. It was formally consecrated on 13 October 1839 by Archbishop Howley.

The original nave remains the dominant feature, a wide structure with tall windows featuring plain Y-tracery. In 1867-8, the architects George and Vaughan added a chancel and transepts, altered the west end, and constructed the base of a projected north-east tower (now serving as the clergy vestry). Further alterations in 1878 removed lobbies beneath the gallery and reconstructed the west end with a narthex featuring north and south entrances. The nave was reseated with contemporary pewing, much of which survives; these seats are distinguished by shaped ends with brass umbrella holders. A clergy vestry was built in 1897. Most recently, in 1974, a parish centre was constructed at the east end, with north and south vestibules removed from the west end and a new west entrance created.

The exterior materials consist primarily of stock brick with red-brick and stone polychromy details in the 1860s sections, with slate roofs throughout. The west end, dating from 1878, features a central gable with a pair of tall, narrow lancet windows, flanked by lower lancets. The narthex remnant survives beneath a lean-to roof. The transepts are notable for their large, bold wheel windows with twelve spoked divisions. The chancel, lower than the nave, has a five-light window with plate tracery. The east end, now fronting directly onto Underdown Road, comprises a single-storey parish centre from 1974.

The plan consists of a nave with west porch, chancel, north and south transepts, a south-east organ chamber, north-east vestries, a parish centre to the east, and a crypt.

Internally, the building is plastered except for the arches over the transepts and chancel entrance, which are rendered in stock brick with red-brick polychrome details. The nave is spanned by a plain tie-beam roof with queen-posts and struts. The chancel has arch-braced roofs.

The most significant interior feature is the west gallery, which dates from the original building. The 1878 pewing, as noted, retains brass umbrella holders. Over the chancel arch is a painted band with a religious text of the type popular in mid-Victorian churches but now uncommon. The font and pulpit are conventional Gothic Revival pieces from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries respectively; the pulpit tester was acquired from St Peter, Canterbury, in 1931. Many principal windows contain stained glass.

Alfred Bower Clayton (1795-1855), the likely original architect, is documented as having exhibited a church design for Herne Bay in 1834. He had trained in the office of D R Roper and assisted George Smith on the Greek Revival London Corn Exchange (1827-8) before moving to Manchester in 1837. The 1867-8 architects were the London-based Ernest George (1839-1922) and his partner Thomas Vaughan (1836-74); George later achieved considerable distinction in secular architecture and was knighted in 1911. Thomas Blashill (1830-1905), a London-based architect who served as superintending architect to the Metropolitan Board of Works from 1887-99, has been mentioned as responsible for a tower design in 1886, though this project was never realised.