Church of St Philip and St James

Church of St Philip and St James

An Anglican church built in 1885, designed by the Cheltenham firm of Middleton, Prothero and Phillott in the Middle-Pointed style. It was commissioned privately by Revd. Gretton and his wife, Laura Gretton.

The church is constructed of rusticated limestone with ashlar dressings and has a clay-tiled roof. A 1980s extension is built in pale brick with an artificial slate roof.

Originally the church had a simple rectangular plan comprising a nave, south vestry, north porch and apsidal chancel. The sacred space was reoriented on a north-to-south axis in 1985 when the church was extended to the south and a community centre was added to the south west.

The west gable end contains a central pointed-arch opening with three lancets and a rose window. Flanking this are a pair of offset buttresses, the right of which is topped by a pyramidal-roofed bellcot. On the north elevation is a half-timber porch with a tiled pitched roof, which was the former entrance to the church and was blocked in 1991. The nave comprises four bays, including three pairs of trefoil-headed lancets. A buttress separates the nave from the rounded chancel, which contains pointed lancet windows. The clerestory is lit by two dormers with paired trefoil-headed windows. The vestry is attached to the south side of the chancel. The east wall of the vestry has trefoil-headed lancet windows, a pointed-arched plank door with ornate hinges and a hood mould above, two mullioned windows with hood-moulds, and a further entrance. The south wall of the nave was removed in the 1980s when the building was extended. The 1985 south elevation contains a raised central wall with three overlapping purple brick crosses all under a mono-pitched roof. On either side is an irregular fenestration of full-height coloured glazing under double-pitched roofs that incorporate coloured glass within the spandrels. The community centre to the west has a steeply-pitched half-hipped roof with a central hall and four blocks projecting from the north, south, east and west sides, containing the toilets, kitchen, bar and meeting room respectively. Between these blocks are full-height windows. It is accessed via a timber-framed glazed entrance in the north elevation.

Inside, the church space has been reoriented with the altar positioned to the south side of the modern nave. Chairs facing south are positioned across the original nave, and a large modern free-standing organ is located at the west end. Ornate candle holders are attached on curved brackets to the walls of the original church. The west end wall incorporates a trefoil-headed statue niche supported by colonnettes. A notable monument is an engraved marble plaque to the church founder, Mrs Gretton.

The wrought-iron chancel screen, designed by Prothero, is framed by a moulded horseshoe-shaped chancel arch with engaged shafts to capitals. The stained glass windows from the removed south elevation appear to have been incorporated in this screen. The walls of the chancel are decorated with a remarkably complete and well-executed set of Pre-Raphaelite style distemper tempera paintings by J. Eadie Reid, depicting New Testament scenes and figures. These include the boy Christ sitting in the Temple among the doctors; Mary, Joseph and the child Christ; the Three Wise Men; the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation; the Angel Gabriel; and the Apostles, Saints Philip and James, depicted as bishops. The schemes are set in panels with text below and stylised foliate friezes above, all framed in a gold and red border, with blue chosen for the running foliate surrounds that frame the windows.

The stained glass is by Heaton, Butler and Baynes. The west window (1895) depicts the Procession into Jerusalem. The chancel windows (1896) show scenes from the story of Christ from the Annunciation to the Ascension. The nave windows (1904-10) also contain work by this firm. The 1985 nave contains stained glass by R W Coomber (1991).

The pews within the chancel date to circa the late 19th century and have floral bench ends. Both the nave and chancel have wagon roofs. The richly-painted chancel roof contains arch bracing, a decorative cornice and bosses to the purlins. The modern nave is separated from the community centre by an ash-wood and glazed screen and a lobby entrance with a timber staircase.

The church also contains a 17th century vase-shaped font with carved hart's-tongue ferns, brought in from the churchyard and now used as a stoup.