Church Of St Luke With Gargoyles To West And Effigy To East

SK 16 SW SHEEN C.P. SHEEN

6/106 Church of St Luke with gargoyles to west 1.2.67 and effigy to east

GV II*

Parish church. C14 remains to building of circa 1850-2 by C.W. Burleigh, superceded by Butterfield. Coursed stone dressings; blue slate roof; verge parapets. West tower, nave, chancel, vestry and porch; in middle pointed Gothic. Tower: of three stages, angle buttresses of three stages up to second stage; parapet frieze of shields set in cusped lattice pattern, gargoyles at angles; short recessed pyramidal lead-covered spire; small trefoil-headed lights, except to bell chamber in twin trefoil-headed lights, quatrefoil over, to pointed arch; west end window similar; stone stairway on north side to ringing chamber. Nave: of 3 bays; 2-stage angle buttresses; two-light pointed trefoil leaded lights, label over; low-gabled porch, pointed-arch entry; C14 stonework in north wall of nave. Chancel: lower than nave, of two bays divided by 2-stage buttresses with gablet heads; six-light pointed east window of trefoil heads and hexafoil over. Vestry: lower than chancel and projecting from north side, narrow with steeply pitched solid stone block roof. Interior: aisleless nave, pointed chancel arch with moulded imposts; king post roof on tie beam, cusped diagonal braces and principals; pointed deep-ribbed vault to chancel and vestry. Trefoil-headed piscina set in reveal angle of chancel window; slight oak screen with gablet over aisle; small octagonal oak pulpit on stone trefoil-headed battered base struts; octagonal stone font, stencilled quatrefoils around top, square base, oak spire cover; two boarded screens to vestry with fretted door panels in Venetian Gothic style. Stained glass by O'Connor, circa 1854. Recumbent effigy outside east end (of a priest?) and discarded gargoyles below tower, on site at time of resurvey (June 1984). A.J.B. Beresford Hope, patron of the living and friend of the Camden Society, having been acquainted with Butterfield's work at All Saints, Margaret Street, London, must have decided at a late stage in the building of the church to supplant Burleigh. The vestry and chancel roof are clearly by Butterfield, as is the recessed spire, the remainder and core the more pedestrian work of Burleigh. (A Brief History of St. Luke's Church, Sheen).

Listing NGR: SK1132761500