Church Of St Augustine

The Church of St Augustine is a Roman Catholic parish church built around 1835, with significant alterations in approximately 1900 by Jackson and further refurbishment in 1970. The front facing Dorchester Road is constructed of Portland stone ashlar over a brick backing, while the sides are rendered and the sanctuary and apse are brick. The roof is slate.

The church has a simple three-bay nave, a small west gallery, an intermediate space leading to the sanctuary, and a sanctuary with a flat, semi-circular apse. To the north are secondary rooms with a lower roofline. The front façade, in a Roman Renaissance style, is two stories high and features a projecting central section topped with a dentilled pediment above a full entablature resting on Corinthian pilasters. A niche contains a carved stone figure of St Augustine. The lower level has plain wings and a rusticated central section with an arched doorway containing panelled doors and a fanlight, accessed by two steps. A moulded plinth and plain mid band are present on the centre section. The side elevations are rendered with scribed details, plain eaves, and plastic rainwater goods. The west flank features three 30-pane lights, plus a 16-pane to the gallery level, above a blind light and a small 4-pane. A lean-to extension has a panelled door and a 4-pane transom light. The right flank is similar with two arched 12-pane lights in plain reveals to the centre section, which is slightly set back with lower eaves, and a brick-built, 20th-century sanctuary with a lead-covered apse and two arched lights. Approximately 10 meters from the front, a plank door within broad pilasters, with flat coping, provides side access.

The interior lobby features a blank arch to the left and a dogleg staircase to the right, with match-boarding on the upper flight. The nave has a flat ceiling, plain plastered walls, splayed window reveals and deep sills, and plastic flooring. A west gallery, with a panelled front, is supported by two slender cast-iron columns. The two-bay pre-sanctuary space is framed by square Corinthian pilasters leading to a proscenium, with central and quarter corner pilasters. The ceiling is divided into six compartments with a moulded cornice featuring dentils and modillions. There are two arched lights in moulded architraves with keystone, ears, and flared feet, on a moulded sill band and a door in architraves. A second proscenium arch leads to the sanctuary, with a shallow altar recess with a segmental head, flanked by flat recessed arches, and a sill band similar to the centre section. Two arched lights with iron armature are present to the right. The altar is a plain stone slab on four stubby 'Doric' legs, set on one and two steps of polished marble. One stained glass window from 1970 is located within the mid-section.