Christ Church

Christ Church, Warminster

Christ Church is an Anglican parish church built between 1830 and 1831 by architect John Leachman on Deverill Road. It was constructed as part of a concerted effort by the Church of England to counter the growth of Nonconformity in the area, particularly following the opening of a Methodist chapel nearby in 1827. The project was funded by over £2,800 raised through public subscription, supplemented by a grant of £1,676 from the Church Building Commissioners. The church has been subject to significant alterations and additions, including an enlargement of the east end by T.H. Wyatt in 1871, the insertion of porches and nave arcades by George Vialls of London in 1881, and a major reordering in 2004–5.

The building is constructed of yellow brick with limestone dressings and slate roofs. It comprises a five-bay nave with aisles under the same roof, a lower two-bay chancel with a one-bay organ chamber to the south and vestry to the north. A projecting west tower flanked by angled porches in the returns between the tower and nave dominates the composition.

The west tower is the principal external feature, proportioned in an Early English style with tall thin pinnacles, diagonal buttresses, and an embattled parapet. The bell-openings are louvred lancets set in deep splayed reveals. The middle stage contains smaller lancets and diagonally-set square frames for clock-faces on the north and south elevations. The west window has Geometric Decorated tracery and is positioned above a door, both elements forming part of Wyatt's 1871 remodelling. The porches added by Vialls feature rose windows in the west walls of the nave above them. The nave sides are articulated with insubstantial buttresses and tall lancets with Perpendicular tracery added by Wyatt. Embattled parapets with thin pinnacles mark each bay division. Wyatt's enlarged east end is distinguished by solid parapets, and the three-light east window beneath a four-centred arch displays rather skimpy Perpendicular tracery. The east nave gable bears a small chimney stack positioned where a medieval Sanctus bellcote would have stood.

The interior features four-centred nave arcades with shafted piers, inserted by George Vialls in 1881 to address instability caused by the original unsupported roof span. Vialls also renewed the nave and chancel roofs with open timber tie-beam trusses and removed the 1830s galleries. A painted board dating from around 1831, citing fees and rules for monuments in the church and churchyard, survives in the vestibule—a fairly uncommon survival. The reredos is an opus sectile and mosaic panel with leaf border depicting the Last Supper. The Caen stone font of 1867 stands on four sturdy polished stone shafts. An elaborate late Victorian pulpit of alabaster and red marble features a deeply undercut foliate cornice. During the 2004–5 reordering, the pitch pine benches of 1881 were replaced with carpet and moveable chairs. The western bay of the nave was glazed to create a lobby, servery, and offices with a gallery above. At the same time, a low chancel wall topped by a good wrought-iron and brass screen of 1887 was largely removed, leaving only short stubs at the sides.

The churchyard is raised and surrounded by a high rubble stone wall that increases in height towards the south. The gates feature quatrefoil-headed dograils and an ogival wrought-iron overthrow.

The church's history is closely connected to the local religious developments of the 1820s. William Dalby, vicar of Warminster, began holding services at a workhouse on Warminster Common in 1826. Following the opening of a Methodist chapel in 1827 under William Daniell, Dalby intensified his efforts to raise funds for a permanent Anglican church. A public meeting selected the present site at Sambourne, contrary to Dalby's preference. William Daniell himself regarded Christ Church as having been erected in direct competition with his own chapel.

Thomas Henry Wyatt (1807–1880), who oversaw the significant 1871 modifications, was a member of an architecturally prolific family. He was a pupil of Philip Hardwick Wyatt, became district surveyor for Hackney in 1832, and was in successful partnership with David Brandon from 1838 to 1851. As honorary architect to the Salisbury Diocesan Church Building Society, he secured many commissions, including sixteen churches built or rebuilt in Wiltshire and numerous restorations. He was elected president of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1870. His most celebrated church is Wilton in Wiltshire, built between 1841 and 1845. In 1869, Wyatt proposed George Vialls for RIBA Associateship; Vialls subsequently worked at Warminster after Wyatt's death and may have been his pupil.