Christ Church, boundary wall and gate piers

An Anglican church built in 1822–23 by Rickman and Hutchinson, with significant later alterations and additions. The chancel was enlarged in 1865, and the interior was modified and a north vestry added in 1883 by Waller, Son & Wood. The west front was rebuilt and the interior remodelled in 1899–1900 by H A Prothero and G Phillott. Late 20th-century alterations include a vestry addition.

Materials and Plan

The church is constructed of stuccoed brick with vermilion terracotta and grey roughcast dressings, under a slate roof. Oriented north-west to south-east, it comprises a nave of seven bays, a sanctuary with a projecting polygonal apse, a north vestry, and a west gallery. The west front of 1899–1900 adds a bay across the full width of the nave with a central projecting block measuring one bay deep and four bays wide. A flat-roofed extension was added to the north elevation in the late 20th century.

Exterior

The building combines Neo-classical design with a monumental French Romanesque style west front. The west elevation features a central projecting block in three sequentially reducing stages, flanked by lower bays marking the nave ends, set upon an offset brick plinth. The ground floor of the central block contains four lancet windows with leaded lights and semi-circular arched heads with terracotta voussoirs. The flanking bays each have an entrance approached by stone steps, with paired panelled doors and leaded fanlights beneath semi-circular terracotta voussoir arches with brick jambs and terracotta roll mouldings. Adjacent to each entrance is a decorative gas light fitting, and a cast-iron boot scraper appears at the lower step. A deep cornice of brick and terracotta runs across the central block, its returns, and recessed side bays. A four-bay arcade in red terracotta spans the recessed face between brick piers at the outer angles, featuring columns with moulded bases and foliate capitals, semi-circular arches with a continuous drip-mould, and lancet windows with leaded lights in each recessed bay. The intermediate stage of the lateral bays and their returns features a matching arrangement with single lights in recessed arches. The lateral bays, which are of two stages, have pedimental gable treatments. The upper storey contains a similar four-bay arcade without a drip-mould; the two central bays each contain a small lancet with louvres. A Greco-Byzantine pedimented double bellcote with twin-arched bell openings crowns the structure.

The north and south elevations display rendered walls with plain pilasters supporting shallow blank arches and large rectangular windows in all but the widest westernmost bay. At the east end of the north elevation stands the late 19th-century vestry, which has a hipped slate roof, shallow blank arches to each side, and a square-headed window in the east wall. Attached to its west elevation is a late 20th-century vestry addition with two windows to the north and a plain doorway to the west.

The east end is rendered with single lancets set high within shallow arches for each bay of the apse. Either side of the apse are small lancets with louvres, also positioned high in the gable, and shallow blank arches beneath.

Interior

Each entrance leads to a vestibule with paired half-glazed panelled doors; timber and glazed screens were introduced to the front of the vestibule and below the gallery in the 1980s. The broad nave has plastered and painted side walls with timber panelling to the lower parts, and bays are defined by pilasters with simple moulded capitals. Most nave windows retain original stained glass with an all-over honeysuckle motif. The nave features a flat, panelled ceiling of 1882–83, to which Prothero added a deep plaster cornice with swags, and a narrow central barrel-vaulted ceiling terminating in a semi-dome within the apse. The tie beams to the barrel-vaulted section are embellished with decorative sun bosses. The organ chamber at the north-east corner contains an organ of 1866 by John Nicholson of Worcester, reoriented to face west in 1883. A memorial chapel in the south-east corner has a simple timber screen of 1950 with raised panels. A simple stone font stands in the south-west corner of the nave. The deep cornice continues through to the chancel. The apse is decorated with wall paintings of 1910–11 by James Eadie Reid, depicting apostles above a frieze of angels, with God the Father flanked by striking red-winged angels. The west gallery and meeting rooms are accessed via a staircase with iron stick balusters and a reeve curtail newel.

Fittings and Furnishings

A low stone screen with carved consoles divides off the choir space at the east end. Attached is a richly carved circular stone pulpit dating from the 1883–84 restoration by Waller, Son & Wood. The matching reredos, also of 1883–84 and by the same firm, has been relocated to the entrance lobby. The pews date from 1883–84. The altar table, with a painted front, was created by J Eadie Reid in 1908.

Stained Glass

Nave windows contain stained glass of 1883–84 with a repeating anthemion motif within wide foliage borders. The three windows at the east end have been replaced: the north-east by William Morris & Co. (Westminster) Ltd. in 1953–54; the south-west chapel window by Edward Payne in 1960; and the south-east chapel window by Lavers & Westlake in 1887. The three apse windows of 1908 are by Eadie Reid.

Monuments

Numerous 19th-century memorial wall tablets are present, predominantly in plain Grecian style by Gloucester and Cheltenham statuaries. The earliest dates to around 1828 by Cooke and J Lewis and is situated in the nave. The largest, featuring a draped urn, was created by G Lewis of Cheltenham around 1842.

Boundary Wall and Gate Piers

To the front (west) of the church stands a low stone plinth with iron railings and a gated entrance. The red brick gate piers have roughcast rendering to their central panels and decorative terracotta caps, each bearing a small terracotta panel carved with a cross in relief. A pair of decorative gates completes the feature. At the south-west corner, at the junction of Brunswick Road and Montpellier, a similar brick pier stands. Along Montpellier runs a low boundary wall of red brick with a stepped side entrance, flanked by matching gate piers and iron gates identical to those on the west side.