Church Of St Alban

Church of St Alban, Coldharbour Lane, Redland, Bristol

This church was built in two phases: the nave between 1907 and 1909, and the transept and eastern end between 1913 and 1915. It was designed by CFW Dening in the Perpendicular Gothic Revival style.

The building is constructed of squared, coursed Carboniferous limestone with Pennant rubble used internally, limestone dressings, and a Cornish slate roof. The plan comprises a narthex, aisled nave, transepts, side chapels, the base of a north-east tower, and a chancel.

The eastern end features a plinth with angle buttresses rising to an ashlar parapet with roll-top coping. An octagonal stair turret is set within the right-hand angle with a weathered top. A 2-centred arched 5-light window with Perpendicular tracery is positioned beneath an empty statue niche with a canopy, set under a raised section of parapet. Only the ground floor of the tower has been built, now topped with a pyramidal roof. Toothed stonework appears in the walls above, with a segmental-arched 3-light window on the east side.

The north chapel has a north-facing segmental-arched doorway and a 5-light mullioned window beneath a short roof, with three lancets above set between shallow buttresses and a parapet. The north transept contains a 3-light window beneath a statue niche similar to the east end, with a short flying buttress connecting to a gable behind. An octagonal stair tower stands to the left, and a segmental-arched doorway is positioned beneath a weathered band.

The five-bay nave features a bellcote on the east gable. The narrow 2-light aisle windows are separated by buttresses that rise through the parapet as flying buttresses, which split beneath a corbel table above paired 2-light clerestory windows. The western bay has an ashlar surround to a segmental-arched doorway with a 2-leaf door.

The south elevation contains a Lady chapel with a canted apse and crenellated parapet, with two narrow windows on the south side. The nave elevation mirrors the north side. The western end features angled parapets to the aisles, octagonal turrets at the west gable with buttresses to the sides, a narthex with outer doorways and a central 5-light window (the middle one in ashlar) beneath a weathered band, paired 2-centred 3-light arched windows, and a parapet stepped up at the centre.

The interior contains a chancel with a piscina and four sedilia in shallow arches under a cornice. Three tall arches on each side connect to the side chapels via short arched braces, forming narrow full-height aisles. The Lady Chapel has a narrow south aisle and a carved reredos with blind panels below an arch with panelled soffit. The chancel arch has attached shafts supporting statues with canopies beneath the arch.

The nave is lined with chamfered square piers linked by 2-centred arches, with vault shafts rising to a 2-centred arched timber roof. The western end is crossed by a wall containing a wide central segmental arch.

Fittings include an octagonal pulpit to the left of the chancel, pew stalls and chairs with ends carved with angels holding instruments, and an octagonal stone font.

The earlier nave has rubble walls and may have been originally designed, with the flying buttresses, to have received a stone vault. The high chancel with side aisles and chapels has been described as one of the most thrilling late Victorian interiors.