Church of St Luke

Details

REDDITCH B EVESHAM ROAD (east side) SP 0366 SE Headless Cross

17/76 Church of St Luke

- II

Parish church. 1867-8 by F Preedy. Sandstone ashlar and machine-tiled roof with gable-end parapets. Three-bay nave with lean-to aisle, south porch, west entrance and bell turret; three-bay apsidal chancel with north vestry. Romanesque style. Nave: chamfered plinth; sill string stepped at sides; pilaster buttresses at bay divisions (clasped at ends); west front has gabled buttresses with Saltire crosses carved beneath gables and corner rebates with slender colonnettes; west entrance set in shallow gabled pro- jection and has a round archway of two orders on columns with foliated capitals; captials are continued as foliated band to columns in outer corner rebates; entrance is flanked by single-light windows with hood moulds returning as strings to buttresses; above the entrance is a chevron moulding which con- tinues around the buttresses and is situated beneath a large wheel window with a hood mould; 2-light opening in gable apex with pointed head and sill string on corbels carved with Saltire crosses; 2-light windows at west end of aisles with hood moulds returning as strings and enclosing a rosette relief above the centre of each window; 2-light window at east end of south aisle. All windows in west elevation have their round-arches supported on columns with foliated or trumpet-scalloped capitals (as does south-east aisle window); north and south elevations have single-light round-headed windows with hood moulds, one to each bay, except for the first and third bays from the east end in the north elevation and the second bay from the east end in the south elevation which have a pair of windows. South porch is gabled and has a cross finial; round archway has chevron moulding and columns with trumpet-scalloped capitals and a hood mould returning to corners; narrow light in each side elevation. Bell turret is gabled with chevron-moulded archway on columns and with responds all with cushion capitals; there is a single bell. Chancel: pilaster buttresses at bay-divisions with colonnettes in corner rebates; also large gabled buttresses at centre of side elevations with similar detail; corbel table at eaves level carved with animal heads and musical instruments; windows all have round arches on columns with variously carved capitals. Vestry: gabled; three bays; three pairs of rectangular lights in east elevation; door and rectangular light in west elevation with steps to basement. Interior: four-bay pointed nave arcades of two chamfered orders on alternating octagonal and circular columns with foliated capitals. Round-headed chancel arch is ornately moulded and has responds with foliated capitals and jambs have colonnettes with trumpet- scalloped capitals. Nave has a king-post roof. Chancel has a tunnel vault with vaulting shafts all elaborately and richly painted. The brightly coloured paintwork continues throughout the chancel, around the windows, on the mouldings, sill string etc. There is also a painted reredos with a painted arcade and figures of the apostles. The piscina and aumbry are similarly treated and ornately moulded but the two-bay sedilia has received simpler treatment. The stone altar table has marble columns in the corner rebates and is enriched with mosaic panels. The square font and three-sided stone pulpit have similar marble columns attached to their bases and much carved decoration above. The building is one of Preedy's more unusual and elaborately detailed designs; the plan and decoration of the chancel are particularly noteworthy (BoE, p 194).

Listing NGR: SP0380466227

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

156552

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, (1968), 194

End of official list entry

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