Tabernacle United Reformed Church

DURSLEY PARSONAGE STREET ST 7598 (north side) 5/46 Tabernacle United Reformed Church GV II

Formerly Congregational Tabernacle, now United Reformed Church. Dated 1808; enlarged 1872 with new interior by T. Thomas of Swansea. Coursed rubble limestone; ashlar dressings; Welsh slate roof. Rectangular with single-storey lobby at south-east end. Attached at north-west end to church rooms and manse house, both not of special interest Sides: 3-window fenestration on 2 levels with central pediment to break forward on south-west side only. Y- tracery to pointed-arched windows all with C20 obscured glass. Long and short quoins to corners and break forward. Plain mutules to projecting eaves, and slanted mutules to pediment with datestone in tympanum and surmounted by bold finial. Pedimented end gables; 2 pointed-arched upper level windows at south-east end. Lean-to lobby below with offset buttressed parapet end wall, buttresses having pointed finials. Central moulded, hooded and pointed arched doorway in long south-east facing wall of lobby with small gable to parapet above; 2-light trefoil-headed lancets to either side of doorways, and single trefoil-headed lancet in end return walls. Shaped panel in mutule enriched pediment to main body containing sans serif inscription: 'THE/TABERNACLE/AD 1808'. Bold finial to gable. Interior contains gallery on 3 sides with panelled front and supported on cast-iron pillars with stiff-leaf capitals. Fine fretwork panelling to Gothic revival octagonal-fronted timber pulpit. Moulded ceiling and moulded wall panelling. Set of panelled box pews. Many late C18 and C19 memorials. Prominent position on rise at west end of town centre. (A. Best et al, An Historical Survey of Dursley, 1985; and D. Verey, Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds, 1979)

Listing NGR: ST7539998238