Church Of St Alban

CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, TILFORD ROAD, HINDHEAD

The Church of St Alban was designed in 1906 by architect John Duke Coleridge as a permanent parish church for the rapidly growing settlement of Hindhead. Construction occurred in phases: the chancel, transepts and Good Shepherd chapel were completed in 1907, the eastern bays of the nave in 1915, and the western nave bays in 1931. A vestry extension was added in 1964. The church is built of Bargate stone rubble with freestone dressings and a tiled roof.

The building is cruciform in plan with a five-bay nave flanked by narrow passage-aisles and a south porch, north and south transepts (the latter serving as the base of an intended but never-completed bell tower), and a three-bay chancel with a Good Shepherd chapel to the north and vestry to the south. The architecture is in Perpendicular style. The west window comprises four lights with rectilinear tracery, as do the north transept and east windows. The projecting eastern bay of the chancel and north bay of the transept feature tall two-light windows on their return walls. The north and south aisles have three-light windows, with two-light square-headed windows to the clerestorey. The south chapel has two- and three-light windows. The west and north doorways are pointed arches with simple mouldings. The south porch has a similar gabled entrance with a pointed arch; above it stands a statue of St Alban housed in a cinquefoil ogee niche. Flanking buttresses to the porch are carried up to form squat gabled finials, as are those to the aisles and to the east and west ends. A single bell sits in a cinquefoil belfry arch above the south transept. Original cast-iron downpipes and hoppers with moulded decoration survive.

Inside, the nave arcades have chamfered arches on alternating cylindrical and octagonal piers, with four similar arches at the crossing. Two-bay arcades run to the north and south of the chancel, the latter partly blocked. The nave and chancel have open timber roofs with heavy arched braces; most corbels remain uncarved, though those in the chancel, apparently finished in the mid-20th century, depict angels, Eucharistic symbols and the elephant insignia of the 1st Punjab Regiment. A carved piscina stands in the chancel. The floor is wood block in the nave, stone in the sanctuary, and inlaid polychrome marble at the east end of the chapel.

The principal fixtures include a massive stone font at the west end of the nave with a square bowl decorated with blind arcading to its sides, supported on four marble columns. The nave contains no fixed seating. A Harrison organ from 1926 was installed in the north transept in 1946. Choir and clergy stalls of 1929 feature blind-traceried frontals and poppy-heads. Traceried altar rails run across the chancel and chapel, and a traceried oak screen separates these two spaces. The chapel contains oak panelling, a reredos and altar with blind tracery and relief carving depicting the Crucifixion and Agnus Dei. A tabernacle with a brass sunburst-decorated door occupies the north wall, alongside a polychrome marble plaque recording the chapel's dedication.

The stained glass represents an exceptional Arts and Crafts scheme. Several windows are by Karl Parsons, marking his first independent commission after completing his apprenticeship with Christopher Whall. The south transept window of 1908 shows Christ the Healer, honouring the work of Australian spiritual healer James Moore Hickson. The sanctuary north window of 1910 depicts a priest celebrating Communion with St Alban, Queen Bertha of Kent, Caedmon of Whitby and William of Wykeham in attendance. The east window of 1912 comprises four lights showing the Annunciation, Nativity, Crucifixion and the risen Christ with Mary Magdalen; the upper lights bear emblems of Hope, Faith, Watchfulness, Prayer and the Eucharist. The Good Shepherd chapel north windows of 1912 each contain two lights: the left window shows the Virgin and Child with Christ and the children; the right shows Christ with St Peter and Christ in Glory. The east window in the chapel is by Christopher Whall himself, dated 1909, and depicts Christ the Good Shepherd. Two additional windows date from the mid-20th century: a north sanctuary window of 1950 by Francis Skeat showing St Monica and Bishop Talbot of Winchester, and a west aisle window of 1945 by Christopher Webb depicting St George.

Hindhead developed as a substantial settlement in the late 19th century. In 1904 a temporary mission church was built to serve the new community. An architectural competition held in 1906 was won by John Duke Coleridge, then aged 27 and destined to become a notable Edwardian architect. The first phase of building was completed by 1907, and the church gained its own parish in 1908. The windows by Parsons and Whall were installed between 1908 and 1912. The three eastern bays of the nave were consecrated in 1915, but the western bays were not built until 1929–31. The projected bell tower was never completed and effectively became a south transept. A fire in 1999 destroyed the original high altar and reredos paintings.