Church Of St Stephen

Church of St Stephen

A masterpiece of late 19th-century ecclesiastical architecture by J L Pearson, this church was built as a memorial to A M Bennett, the first Vicar of St Peter's. The nave and transepts were constructed between 1881 and 1883, the chancel was added in 1896 to 1897, and the north-west tower was completed under F L Pearson's direction between 1907 and 1908. The church is designed in Early English style and elaborately composed on a hillside setting using Purbeck stone with Bath stone dressings.

The exterior displays considerable architectural ambition. The nave and transepts feature a high unbuttressed clerestory with 2-light plate tracery windows beneath a steep tiled roof. The low broad aisles lean-to with leaded roofs provide visual contrast. The west front is dominated by a large relieving arch with dogtooth carving, positioned between two polygonal stone-spired turrets. Above this sits a wheel window within the gable, with a recessed triplet of 2-light windows below, each with gabled buttresses between them, and a gabled door set in a blind arcade. The north-west tower rises prominently with very tall pairs of 2-light belfry windows featuring arcaded spandrels and a bracketed cornice; the tower has a pyramid roof, though a spire was intended. A south porch serves the transept. The Lady Chapel, situated to the east of the north transept, terminates in an apse with lancet windows. The chancel's eastern apse displays stepped lancet triplets, each positioned beneath a segmental relieving arch between buttresses with set-offs. The apse is topped with an eaves cornice of alternating brackets and a splayed hipped roof crowned with an iron cross on leaded finials. A polygonal leaded fleche rises from the roof ridge at the crossing, featuring lancet openings above an openwork gallery. In the angle between the transepts and chancel stand square towers supporting a circular belfry stage decorated with traceried louvred lancets and a conical spirelet. The south-east vestry is rendered in a 2-storey Early English domestic style with gabling, combining 4-light traceried windows with flat-headed openings beneath trefoiled relieving arches.

The interior is distinguished by sophisticated vaulting throughout. A 2-bay vaulted narthex beneath a gallery in the west bay opens into a 5-bay main arcade of quatrefoil piers connected by double-chamfered arches, with the eastern bay canted inwards towards the crossing. The main quadripartite vault of stone is carried on wall shafts rising to ground. Below the clerestory windows runs a passageway with a pierced balustrade. The double aisles feature low arches on quatrefoil piers and are entirely rib-vaulted. A high vaulted crossing dominates the centre. The north transept contains a rose window positioned above lancets, with the Lady Chapel to the east featuring a dogtooth-carved ribbed vault and dogtooth-carved inner arches to the lancets. A Cosmati-type pavement and an openwork brass altar rail adorn this space. The south transept is largely occupied by an organ gallery with a canted front supported on 3 arches, beneath which lies a vaulted chapel with a 7-ribbed vault. Both transepts contain small eastern lobbies, vaulted, connecting the chapel and choir aisle. The eastern apse is also rib-vaulted with shafted pillars featuring shaft-rings; these are connected as internal buttresses by steeply pointed arches spanning a continuous ambulatory passage behind the choir and sanctuary. Both the buttress arches and apse windows feature a pierced balustrade similar to that found in the nave and transept passages.

The church contains significant furnishings, many dating from 1899. A large polyptych painted wood reredos depicts the Crucifixion and saints. Wrought-iron parclose screens and choir stalls complement the scheme. The altar frontal displays a painted Adoration of Magi. Sedilia and piscina are finished with low segmental arches, while a wrought-iron rood screen divides the liturgical space. A white marble pulpit with sculptured panels on brown and green colonnettes serves the clergy, while a circular white marble font on pink colonnettes features a timber spired cover. Stained glass by Clayton and Bell illuminates the entire interior.