Easton Methodist Church With Former Manse And Boundary Walls

Easton Methodist Church with Boundary Walls

A Methodist church with boundary walls, built between 1906 and 1907 to designs by Latrobe and Weston of Bristol at a cost of approximately £7,000, with Wakeham Brothers of Plymouth as builders. The building is constructed of rock-faced snecked Portland stone with ashlar dressings, or rubble, beneath a plain tile roof.

The church presents a striking composition in a mixture of late muscular Gothic with Art Nouveau detailing. The east front, facing Easton Square, is dominated by twin square towers that carry set-back octagonal turrets topped with stone spires. The corners of the towers frame deep-set openings beneath moulded segmental arches with glacis-like cills. A broad coped gable rises centrally, crowned with a decorative stone apex cross positioned over a vertical vent. Below this are paired set-back windows with four lancets each, arranged beneath an octofoil rose with a superimposed cross, executed in plate tracery and divided by a broad central pier with deep glacis cills. The central doorway is a particularly fine feature, executed in French High Gothic style with a deep arched opening containing a tympanum carved with Christ in Glory, above paired plank doors with double colonnette responds. The doorway is approached by five steps with nosings. The tower returns feature side doors set beneath small upright lights—two to the north and four to the south—arranged within raised crenellations.

The north side, facing Reforne, contains three pairs of lancets beneath quatrefoils in plate tracery within deep pointed recesses, above which are three rows of three small flush lancets. The parapet is punctuated by three pairs of small slits evoking crenellation. The transept arms step up to coped gables over three ventilation slits and three stepped lancets beneath moulded arches with drips on colonnette responds. Below these are five small closely-set flush lancets. The north side of the semi-octagonal apse, which is partly constructed in rubble, contains three stepped lancets. The south side of the building repeats similar detailing.

Attached to the west end is a low flat-roofed vestry connected by a tiled canopy over a glazed door with a pointed arch. Adjacent is a lofty two-storey range with two windows per storey; the ground floor windows are two-light casements with transoms, while the upper floor has similar glazing. The end gable wall in rubble construction features a high lunette. The south-east return front contains three windows: two-light leaded iron casements above two-light casements with transoms.

The interior comprises a three-bay nave with two-bay transepts, all spanned by composite wood trusses beneath a planked ceiling. The semi-octagonal apse mirrors this construction detail and is set on plastered walls with stone dressings and mosaic floors. Galleries occupy three sides of the interior, supported on cast-iron columns with leaf capitals. The gallery fronts are decorated with repeated Art Nouveau tree and wheatfield ornaments in cast plaster. Windows with inner screens are supported on polished elvan columns; the ground floor lancets feature semi-circular arches. Dado panelling extends to cill levels throughout.

The organ and its case occupy a position behind a tall moulded painted arch, surrounded by choir seating. The nave contains plain pews throughout. A particularly notable feature is the pulpit and reading desk, with a Portland stone bowed front carved in high relief with The Last Supper, executed by Mr. Sheppard, and flanked by vertical stone responds. Stairs ascend to the pulpit with a brass handrail, backed by a stone organ gallery front divided into four vertical panels on each side decorated in Art Nouveau detail. An octagonal stone font stands in the interior.

The entrance lobby, flanked by open-well stone stairs with some Art Nouveau ornamentation, contains a mosaic floor and a wall panel below a large segmental-headed opening fitted with leaded stained glass. All door handles, finger plates and escutcheons are of polished brass. Although the exterior presents a somewhat mannered design, the interior proves unusually rich and detailed, having been retained entirely unchanged. This preservation helps demonstrate the considerable strength of Methodism on the island.

The boundary walls across the east front and return to Reforne are of low stone construction with square section coping and a series of rectangular piers topped with large plain cappings decorated with sunk circle and cross patterns. An opening to the main porch is positioned on a single step, with a small opening at the west end fitted with an iron gate.