Church Of St Edmund King And Martyr

The Church of St Edmund King and Martyr is a Roman Catholic church built in 1906 by F A Walters. It is constructed from Bargate rubblestone with ashlar dressings and features a plain tile roof. The church is situated on the side of a hill, resulting in a tall basement on the north side. It has a six-bay nave with a baptistry at the west end, north and south porches, and a three-stage north-east tower, along with a lower three-bay chancel. The architectural style is modified Early English, characterized by a moulded plinth, offset buttresses, lancet windows, and cross finials.

The nave has steps leading up to the door at the right (west) end, which is sheltered by a shallow gabled porch with buttresses. The pointed-arched doorway has a chamfered surround and a hoodmould, with a recessed double board door featuring decorative iron hinges and a moulded segmental arch. The tympanum is decorated with three cusped-headed panels, the outer two of which have shields. To the left of the porch, there are three high-level windows set in pointed-arched recesses with buttresses in between.

The tower is adorned with gableted, full-height pilaster buttresses and has a gabled vice on the left with three slit windows. It includes one window in the lower stage, two above, and a louvred two-light belfry window. The pyramidal roof has corbelled eaves, a finial, and a weather cock. The south side of the nave mirrors the north side, featuring a vessica over the porch. The west end has a gabled, shallow baptistry with paired lancets.

On the north side of the chancel, there are two windows, and to the right, a two-storey pent-roofed bay with a 2-light chamfered mullion window on each floor and a stack on the left. Further to the left is an attached presbytery, which is not of special interest.

Inside, the church is very plain, with a double-chamfered chancel arch supported by attached columns with roll-moulded bases and plain capitals, and a hoodmould featuring foliage stops. The nave has corbelled, arch-braced roof trusses, while the chancel is underdrawn with a vaulted ceiling. There is a carved stone reredos with figures of saints, and the Lady Chapel, located in the lowest stage of the tower, features a well-carved stone screen and reredos with a Madonna statue, along with stencilled walls and ceiling. Decorative iron gates lead to the baptistry.