Baptist Church

The Baptist Church, built in 1837, was designed by Edwin Down and is a building of group value. It is located on the south side of St Mary Street in Bridgwater. Constructed of Bath stone ashlar with stucco recessed sections, it has a slate roof. The church is rectangular in plan, with schoolrooms at the rear.

The building is in a Classical style. It is a single-story structure with a symmetrical two-window facade. A dentilled cornice supports a pediment spanning the front, with full-height Ionic columns framing a deeply recessed central entrance. This entrance contains Egyptian-style double doors with a dated plaque above and smaller doors to either side. The outer bays are flanked by Tuscan antae and feature semicircular arched windows with small panes, moulded architraves, and panelled aprons above banded rustication. A moulded string course runs below the apron and continues around the central recessed area. The moulding to the base of the columns forms a plinth around the entire building. Steps lead up to the central range, flanked by cast-iron lamp standards dating from around 1837.

The church interior is largely complete, although rear rooms were under remodelling in 1991. The church room has a richly moulded cornice to the coved and panelled ceiling, curving inward to a recessed area at the north end. The organ is at gallery level, flanked by Corinthian pilasters. The pulpit is in a Classical style, with three semicircular arches, moulded archivolts, and fluted keystones. Behind the pulpit are curved stairs with fluted newels, thick vertical stick balusters and a projecting panel supported by brackets. Side galleries have a moulded wooden rail and cast-iron trellised panels, raked steeply and containing original numbered wooden pews. A clock on the south wall is inscribed “Rossiter Bridgwater.” The ground floor has wooden pews and c 1902 tongued-and-grooved panelling beneath a dado rail. Pairs of double doors to the north and south ends, likely dating from around 1902, feature leaded panes with coloured margins and brass pull handles. Three windows on each side reach from slightly above the dado rail to the cornice, featuring thin wooden glazing bars and circular opening panels at gallery level. A C20 entrance hall completes the building.