North Molton Methodist Church And Adjoining Church Hal

North Molton Methodist Church and adjoining church hall, situated on the south side of East Street, North Molton.

Built in 1891, this Methodist church and hall form a substantial pair of buildings constructed in tooled snecked dressed sandstone, with some of the stone almost reaching ashlar quality, and limestone ashlar dressings (not quoins). The rear elevation consists of uncoursed rubble, partly painted. The buildings are roofed in Welsh slate with gable ends, hipped over the apse and to the rear of the hall. Ridge cresting of pierced clay features scrolled ends, and gabled clay louvred ridge vents rise above, with four gables marking the crossing.

The church is aligned approximately east-west, parallel to the road, and comprises two bays to the east, gabled transepts that do not project, and a polygonal seven-sided apse to the west. The adjoining church hall stands at the south-east corner, projecting to the south. A lean-to porch to the front forms a lobby serving both the church and the hall.

The design follows the Geometrical Gothic Revival style. Externally, the church displays a chamfered plinth, pilaster buttresses with chamfered offsets, and raised chamfered eaves and verges. The nave windows consist of two chamfered trefoil-headed lights with chamfered cills. The north transept has flanking triple buttresses, with chamfered circular blind panels in the verge at the feet of the gable and a chamfered circular quatrefoil blind panel at the apex. A large plate-tracery window set within a chamfered two-centred arch contains three stepped trefoil-headed lights. The transom features trefoil heads to the lower parts of the lights, with plate tracery comprising two chamfered trefoils flanking the centre light and a chamfered cill. The south transept likewise contains a tall window of three stepped lights. The apse has windows in its canted corners, each consisting of two chamfered trefoil-headed lights with chamfered cills. The eastern end displays circular panels in the verge at the feet of the gable and a quatrefoil circular panel at the apex. The rear of the church is more plainly detailed than the front.

The church hall is set back to the left of the church. The lean-to porch has a chamfered plinth and three bays, with outer windows featuring three trefoil-headed low chamfered lights with chamfered cills. The central entrance comprises a pair of 19th-century boarded doors with a diamond-leaded overlight, a continuously-chamfered pointed arch with scroll stops, and a gable above with chamfered verge scrolled at the feet. A side entrance to the hall at the rear of the church contains a boarded door and a six-pane fixed window above with a brick segmental head.

Inside, the entrance lobby has an encaustic-tiled floor, with two six-panelled doors opening into the hall and two six-panelled doors into the church. The interior preserves a complete late 19th-century Methodist church layout. The two-bay nave roof consists of chamfered arched-braced collar trusses springing from carved stone corbels, with king posts above the collar flanked by Gothic arches, pairs of purlins and wall plates, and a plastered soffit. The crossing is covered by intersecting chamfered arched-braced collar trusses. Four chamfered arch-braced radial rafters spring from carved stone corbels in the apse. Windows have chamfered rear arches—segmental to the nave and apse. The church retains 19th-century benches in the nave and around the apse, with a matchboarded dado throughout. Windows are fitted with diamond-leaded glazing. The organ is positioned to the east.