United Reform Church And Attached Wall And Railings To North East

The United Reformed Church, along with its attached wall and railings to the northeast, was originally built around 1777. A vestry was added to the north in 1814, the building was extended one bay to the east in 1823, and the gallery and roof were altered in 1886. The interior was altered and reseated in 1880. The structure is built of English bond brickwork, with the south side covered in slate, and features a half-hipped slate roof. It has a rectangular plan with a five-window front.

The symmetrical front has a wide gable with coved corners and a shallow elliptical-arched central section, topped by two sharp obelisk finials. A timber hexastyle portico, dating to 1823, stands in front of the central section, featuring Tuscan columns, an entablature, and a central pediment. A cartouche above the doorway is dated 1777, and the doorway itself is recessed with a fanlight. The windows are semicircular-arched on the ground floor and two-centre-arched on the first floor, with keys and imposts. There are three blind round-arched windows in the gable. The windows have Y-tracery timber mullions and glazing bars. Similar fenestration is found on the four-window side ranges.

The interior was altered and refitted in the early 19th century. It is reported to contain a continuous gallery supported by timber quatrefoil columns with moulded capitals and stone bases to elliptical arches, which carries the king post roof. A six-bay arcade is present, with the gallery extended inwards and supported on cast-iron columns added in 1823, along with a panelled front. Original fittings include an early 19th-century clock, a late 17th-century chair with turned sides, and pews dating to 1823 at the front of the gallery.

Attached to the building is a brick wall with capped piers, originally topped with urn finials. Cast-iron piers with a bronze finish, gates, and railings run approximately 30 meters to the northeast, and formerly extended a similar distance to the west.

The United Reformed Church is considered one of the finest 18th-century nonconformist town chapels in England and reflects the prosperity of Poole during that period. The architectural quality of the 19th-century fittings is particularly noteworthy.