Details
WHITCHURCH URBAN C.P. SAINT JOHN'S STREET
SJ 5441
(north-west side)
8/112 Saint John's Methodist
- Church and adjoining
- church hall
II
Methodist Church and church hall. 1879. Snecked rock-faced yellow/
brown sandstone with ashlar dressings. Plain tile roof. 4-bay nave
with 3-bay (liturgical) north aisle and south porch, apsidal chancel,
north and south transepts, organ chamber to south-east, north-west
steeple, and vestry and church hall adjoining to the north-east. In a
late C13 or early C14 Gothic style. Steeple: 3 stages. Chamfered
plinth, angle buttresses to top of second stage with chamfered offsets,
second-stage cill string, and belfry with rope-moulded nook shafts at
corners. Coving to stone broach spire with lucarnes on cardinal faces,
each with chamfered trefoil arch and small quatrefoil in apex, and
circular clock at base to west with gabled surround. Triple-chamfered
louvred belfry openings, divided by shafts with moulded capitals and
bases and supporting hollow-chamfered arches with continuous hoodmould.
Second-stage north and west windows of 2 trefoil-headed lights with
quatrefoil in tracery, hollow-chamfered reveals and continuous hoodmould.
North doorway with moulded arch, 2 orders of shafts with carved foliated
capitals and moulded bases, hoodmould, and half-glazed door with
decorative ironwork. 4 steps up to door. Nave: chamfered plinth,
chamfered cill string, continuous hoodmould, parapeted gable end with
trefoil-gabled kneelers and cross at apex, and ridge cresting. Windows
of 2 trefoil-headed lights with cusped Geometrical tracery and hollow-
chamfered reveals. Large west window of 4 trefoil-headed lights with
cusped Y-tracery, hollow-chamfered and moulded reveals, and returned
hoodmould. South-west porch with low angle buttresses and parapeted
gable. Moulded arch, one order of shafts with carved foliated capitals
and moulded bases,hoodmould, and pair of half-glazed boarded doors with
decorative wrought ironwork. 3 steps up to doorway. North aisle:
plinth and cill string. Pairs of chamfered trefoil-headed windows.
Chancel:, plinth and cill string. 3 trefoil-headed windows with hollow-
chamfered reveals and nook shafts with carved foliated capitals and
moulded bases. South transept: plinth, cill string, interrupted string
course with carved stops, and parapeted gable end with trefoil-gabled
kneelers and cross at apex. South window of 4 trefoil-headed lights with
cusped tracery,hollow-chamfered reveals, and hoodmould with carved stops.
North transept: cill string, stepped up to south window of 3 lights
with cusped Geometrical tracery and returned hoodmould. Bank circular
quatrefoil panel in apex of gable above. Organ chamber: hipped roof.
Pair of chamfered lancets to south, and boarded door to east with strap
hinges, chamfered reveals, moulded arch and cill string carried over as
hood-mould. Church Hall: 2-span roof. Chamfered plinth . Ashlar
stack to rear ridge with brick top stage. 2-windows to west paired
chamfered trefoil-headed lights. Central porch with low angle buttresses,
continuous hoodmould, returned to sides, and parapeted gable. Boarded
door with decorative strap hinges, chamfered jambs, and continuously-
moulded arch. Left-hand return front: window to right of triple stepped
chamfered lancets and 2 windows to left of paired chamfered trefoil-
headed lights. Right-hand gable end: triple stepped chamfered lancets,
with cill string, stepped-up, and continuous hoodmould over all. Rear
with windows of paired chamfered trefoil-headed lights to left and
single light to right. Boarded door to right with decorative strap hinges
and chamfered reveals. Vestry linking church and hall, with brick
stack to valley between it and transept, east window consisting of a pair
of chamfered trefoil-headed lights and boarded door to left with decorative
strap hinges and chamfered reveals. Interior: trussed-rafter roofs
with moulded wall plates. 3-bay aisle arcade consisting of circular piers
with moulded bases and capitals, chamfered and moulded arches, and
continuous hoodmould. Moulded and chamfered transept arches with half-
round- piers and hoodmoulds with carved stops. Chamfered arch to organ
chamber in south transept. Chamfered and moulded rear arches. Aisle
windows with moulded wooden lintels, chamfered cills and splayed reveals.
Strainer buttress at east end of aisle. Continuously-moulded
arch to vestry with boarded door. Fittings: mainly c.1879. Wrought-
iron and wooden altar rails. Wooden choir stalls. Circular stone
pulpit with moulded base and top, ogee trefoil-arcaded side with marble
inlay, short circular stem, and steps with wrought-iron balustrade. Plain
wooden pews. C19 organ. Encaustic tiles to chancel. Stained glass in
transepts and east windows. Vestry and church hall with stone corner
fireplaces. Hall has trussed-rafter roof with moulded wooden wall plate
and moulded wooden lintels to windows. This church cost over £5000 to
build in 1879. The church is not aligned east-west but this discription
refers only to liturgical east, west etc. Kelly's Directory of Hereford-
shire and Shropshire (1900), p. 279.
Listing NGR: SJ5432841734
