Christ Church

Christ Church, Clevedon

Built in 1838–9 by the architects Rickman & Hussey, this church was designed for the expanding seaside area of Clevedon, which lay remote from both the medieval village and the parish church of St Andrew. Designs were prepared late in 1837, building began in May 1838, and the church was consecrated on 2 August 1839. The construction was funded by subscription, including over £1,800 from George Weare Braikenridge of Brislington, Bristol, an antiquary with a renowned collection of medieval and Renaissance art. The tower was remodelled in the late 1850s by the Bath architects Manners & Gill.

The church is built of local limestone ashlar with slate roofs. Its plan comprises an aisleless nave of six bays, a short chancel without chapels, a west tower aligned south of centre to the nave, and a north-west porch. A west gallery is present, and 20th-century halls adjoin at the south-east corner.

The exterior adopts Early 14th-century Decorated style, appearing unusually solid for its date on account of the deep buttresses required to support the roof structure. The tall south-west tower features diagonal buttresses. Manners & Gill's remodelling in the late 1850s introduced an embattled parapet and crocketed pinnacles, Somerset tracery in the belfry lights, angel gargoyles, and a ballflower cornice. The varying Flamboyant tracery throughout the nave reflects Hussey's influence on the firm by the 1830s and may have been executed at Braikenridge's instigation. The original entrance was a porch attached to the west face of the tower, with the tower base beyond serving as a vestibule. An additional porch was added at the west end of the north nave wall in the 1860s.

The interior is considerably plainer than the exterior might suggest, which is characteristic of Rickman's churches. The wide, uninterrupted nave is notably austere and without decoration. A one-bay chancel is typical of the date. The deep west gallery on slim cast-iron columns extends back into the tower. The most striking interior feature is the unusual wind-braced roof, constructed on five broad stone diaphragm arches sprung from moulded corbels.

The church reflects an Evangelical outlook in its planning and fittings. The seating dates from 1883 but is arranged to the original plan in chapel-like fashion, with passages at the sides but no central approach to the chancel. Two organ cases from 1964 flank the chancel arch. A Gothic pulpit dates to 1889. The font is a small octagonal piece with ogee panelling, made in 1838–9. In the part of the gallery extending into the tower is a rare survival of a children's gallery with original seats dating from 1838–9.

The east window contains a notable collection of medieval and Renaissance Continental stained glass given by Braikenridge. It features an especially finely painted French mid-13th-century king from a Tree of Jesse at the centre, regarded by Mary B. Shepard of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, as among the finest French glass produced during the reign of Louis IX (1226–70). A Flemish 14th-century panel depicting the Coronation of the Virgin is positioned to the left. Two rose windows flank the chancel arch high up and also appear to contain old stained glass, though these are now inaccessible behind the organ cases. The nave contains four stained glass windows from the 1880s on each side.

A church hall built in 1920–1 stands south-east of the chancel and was enlarged by Beech & Tyldesley in 1969–70 to an L-shaped plan (the halls are not included in the listing).

Thomas Rickman (1776–1841) had studied and drawn Gothic architecture and developed the now standard terms for Decorated, Perpendicular, and other styles, published in An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture from the Conquest to the Reformation (1817). His reputation for antiquarian accuracy would have appealed to Braikenridge and may have influenced the commission. Braikenridge maintained a summer home a little east of the church, now known as Claremont on Highdale Road. His renowned collection of medieval and later works of art was dispersed internationally in 1908.

Highdale Road contains many good early and mid-19th-century villas.