Church of St Alban

Church of St Alban

A late Gothic style church consisting of a nave and aisles raised on a high basement, with a west bellcote, elevated south porch, chancel of equal height to the nave, and flat-roofed south east vestries.

The church is arranged as a six-bay nave with clerestory and lean-to aisles, terminated by coped shouldered gables. The tall west front features an ashlar gabled bellcote containing a single traceried pointed arch subdivided by a centre buttress, with gabled front buttresses rising from carved corbels. The main west front is framed by buttresses with set-offs at the springing level of the west window and ashlar gabled caps below the shoulders of the main gable. The basement is raised on a pronounced plinth.

The west elevation displays a large five-light Perpendicular style window with ashlar jambs carried down to basement level, flanked by a pair of flat-headed three-light windows with ashlar dividing buttresses. The aisle west ends have two-light pointed windows with flowing tracery and hoodmoulds, with jambs similarly carried down to frame two-light basement windows.

The side elevations feature clerestory windows that are flat-headed with three lights, while the aisle windows are two-light pointed windows with hoodmoulds. The clerestory is framed by gabled buttresses at each end, and the aisles have gabled buttresses between windows. The aisle upper windows have jambs carried down to frame basement lights.

On the south side, a gabled porch is reached by an ashlar-faced castellated bridge over the footpath with a pointed arch. An embattled parapet returns eastward to the churchyard gates. The porch is raised on a basement and features a west pointed door, clasping gabled south west and south east buttresses, a moulded pointed south doorway, an ashlar band above broken by a statue niche, and a shouldered and coped gable with cross finial.

The chancel has an even roof line but slightly higher eaves and features two long two-light pointed windows to the south with flowing tracery. Flat-roofed vestries with a coped parapet are positioned to the south east. The chancel east end has a large five-light window set high with a sill course and gabled buttresses on each side. The north side displays one long window and a gabled organ-loft raised over a basement. A large paired stack is situated on the west side.

The interior is a long high space in the manner of G F Bodley, with grey ashlar walling and Bath stone dressings. Round arcade piers support heavily moulded pointed arches, with the mouldings dying into the piers without capitals. Linked hoodmoulds feature finely carved stops. The clerestory has cambered rear-arches, and a broad chancel arch rests on carved corbelled capitals. The nave roof is a big hammer-beam design with arch-braced collar-trusses.

The chancel floor is finished in green and white marble. The roof is finely painted with a ribbed and panelled wagon design, featuring carved ridge bosses and subdivided panels over the sanctuary.

The north side features a moulded arch to the organ-loft, while the south side has a full-height moulded blank arch. The south side of the sanctuary contains triple sedilia and a piscina. The sanctuary floor is finished in green, white and red marble.

The church contains carved stalls, an organ case on the north side and matching south side canopy, a carved wood pulpit, and an ashlar bowl font with a finely carved band of oak leaves and birds below the rim, supported on an ashlar pier with detached green marble corner shafts, moulded caps and bases. There is no stained glass or east end reredos.