Methodist Church

Methodist Church

A Methodist church built in 1910 by the Bristol architectural practice Latrobe and Weston, located on Lee Road in Lynton. The building is constructed of rubble stone with cream ashlar dressings, some slate hanging, and tile roofs.

The church comprises an unaisled three-bay nave with a west porch, transept, chancel, and a meeting hall with ancillary rooms at the east end. It is set gable to the street, with its liturgical west facing southeast towards Lee Road. The steep rise of an adjacent side street means that the rooms at the chancel end are entered at a higher level than those at the nave end.

The gabled entrance features a five-light window with staggered transoms in deep splayed jambs, set beneath a dressed stone pointed segmental arch. This arch is flanked by dressed stone buttresses with gableted heads and incised detail; at the lower level these buttresses step forward to square, flat-topped terminals with high-relief detail. Parapeted haunches in rubble flank the entrance, with embellished face gables on the returns. A high stone plinth runs across the full front width. A timber-framed porch set forward from a pent roof sits immediately below the central light's cill, over a pair of plank doors with some coloured glass set on two stone steps. The main gable has a saddle-back coping with a central square pinnacle feature and a decorative terminal cross.

The right return has three three-light stone mullioned windows with flush surrounds in deep splays under flat pointed arches to varied interlaced and cusped tracery. The transept has a coped gable over a four-light traceried window with crenellated transom to the two centre lights, and a drip-course with bold modelled stops. To the right, slightly stepped forward, is a hipped two-storey range with long casements to stone ovolo-mould mullions with rectilinear leading. At eaves level are nine-light and five-light windows with transom; at the lower level are a six-light and a small two-light. Two of the long casement lights are blank stone panels bearing a coat of arms inscribed "Aut inveniam viam aut faciam" and "1910". An off-centre pair of part-glazed doors under a transom light is set beneath a flat pointed segmental head on three plus two steps. Above the ridge is the upper part of the main hall gable, with a small square stack to the left adjoining the transept. The long left return of the front is simpler, with three nave windows and a large transept light; both gables are slate-hung, and the hall gable has a three-light attic window. The east end has a deep swept concrete tile roof-slope over three three-light wood casements and a small lean-to unit.

The interior of the nave and transept has plastered walls and match-board dado on a wood floor. The roof trusses are notably rich, featuring arch-bracing, collar, and hammer beam carried on stone corbels, with broad vertical posts incorporating fret designs. The transept trusses are similar but simpler with lesser span. The roof is close-boarded on four purlins, with drops for lighting included, though original light fittings have been replaced. The chancel arch is moulded on paired colonnettes with embellished pilasters to the nave. The apse is three-sided on two plus one steps with a marble floor, three lancet windows, and a timber roof with simple hammer-beam on brackets. Behind the altar is panelling, and the skirting has a regular series of small square apertures presumed for ventilation. To the left of the chancel opening is a large arch; to the right a smaller arch gives access to the pulpit.

The pews are simple pine with two aisles. The pulpit is especially rich, with carved panels and spandrels featuring beaten copper decoration. The altar rail is on light wrought-iron standards with motifs including an anchor, cross, heart, and S-forms. The ancillary rooms retain much original and imaginative detail, including a dogleg stair with embellished square newels and turned balusters; a fine Art Nouveau fire surround with counter-curved mantel and inserted tiles, flanked by built-in cupboards in the vestry; in the church lounge a window with turned baluster central support, a wide fireplace with overmantel and green glazed tiles, and an eccentric roof truss with arch-bracing carried on a tie. The main hall has been extended with a broad aisle on one side.

This is an exceptionally fine Methodist church of the period. Latrobe and Weston were a noted Bristol practice who often experimented with Art Nouveau forms and detail. The church complements the neighbouring Town Hall.