Sawbridgeworth Congregational Church
SAWBRIDGEWORTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, LONDON ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1101650
- Date first listed:
- 02-Oct-1981
- List Entry Name:
- Sawbridgeworth Congregational Church
- Statutory Address:
- SAWBRIDGEWORTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, LONDON ROAD
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-05-29
- Reference:
- IOE01/03042/30
- Rights:
- © Ms Elaine Allen . Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1101650
- Date first listed:
- 02-Oct-1981
- List Entry Name:
- Sawbridgeworth Congregational Church
- Statutory Address 1:
- SAWBRIDGEWORTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, LONDON ROAD
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- SAWBRIDGEWORTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, LONDON ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Hertfordshire
- District:
- East Hertfordshire (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Sawbridgeworth
- National Grid Reference:
- TL 48014 14644
Details
LONDON ROAD 1. 5253 (West Side) Sawbridgeworth Congregational Church TL 4801 1464:3/13 II GV 2. 1862-3 by Poulton and Woodman, architects of Reading. Opened April 1863 as church and schoolroom. Extension to N1911. Polychrome brick church with bath stone dressings and steep slate roof of 2 colours banded. Early English style. 5 bay church with W apse (organ) and E gallery over entrance lobby. Buttressed square tower with shingled spire rises over NE corner. Lower vestry at SW next apse. Integral 4 bay schoolroom set back on N side with 4 bay arcade opening it up to church. Original sliding screens closing off schoolroom still in use. Linked by arch,2 storey brick extension to N. Modern hall at rear of extension. 3 part E front to church, centre flanked by narrow recessed parts. Yellow stock brick. White brick plinth offsets. 5 polychrome bands in height of gable and each of 3 courses of white brick with blue brick course above and below. Central quatrefoil datestone below tall E window. Stone plate tracery with 4 lancets topped by blind 6-pointed star and a pyramid of 3 quatrefoils. 3 ring header arch in white brick over stone arch, outer ring has blue header at every 3rd brick. Steep stone copings, kneelers and trefoil finial. Louvred trefoil opening in upper part of gable sunk in stone infill to pointed arched top opening with segmental cill. Steep stone copings to porch on SE projecting to plane of centre. 2 centred pointed arch to door. Stone dressings with 3 ring brick arch. Similar door in base of NE tower of 4 stages with paired buttresses running up 2 stages. It has brick banding linking to centre. Very narrow lancets to 1st and 2nd stage and 2 to 4th stage. Quatrefoil in circular brick opening to 3rd stage. Diminished 4th stage and brick corbelling to base of pyramid spire. Schoolroom set back depth of tower. E front has corresponding plinth and brick bands. Polygonal headed door on right. 2 small lancets rising for stair to church gallery. Large central window with stone place tracery of 3 quatrefoils recessed in equilateral curved triangle under polychrome brick arch. Small stone triangular vent above and a stone coping. Plank door with decorative iron hinges. Diamond leaded glazing throughout. Flanks of church and schoolroom have plinth and polychrome brick bands and buttresses with stone offsets. 1st buttress on SE has '18 AW 62' cut in brick. Brick eaves corbels. Paired stone lancet windows with diamond leaded lights and pivoted metal opening section in each lefthand light, 2 storey stock brick extension of 1911 on N. Plum brick dressings. Stone coping to front parapet and central gable and kneelers. 2 storey recessed arch feature in centre. 3 light wooden casements. Transoms to Gd floor windows. Rectangular leaded lights. Elaborate foundation stone. 4 bay arcade in church has paired columns like a cloister with C13 style floral joint capitals. Boarded dado with top rail decorated with quatrefoils. Stone corbels support open timber roof of uniform scantling. Central raised pine pulpit with dog-tooth arches and heavy bar mouldings. Old panelled pews are used as dado in schoolroom. Bath for adult immersion installed under dias in 1938. (Pevsner 2nd Ed Ed Rev (1977) 335: WEA II (1967) 51-6: Church Building Centenary booklet (1963).
Listing NGR: TL4801414644
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 160811
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977), 335
The Story of Sawbridgeworth in The Churches and the People, (1967), 51-56
Other
Sawbridgeworth Congregational Church Building Centenary Booklet, 1963,
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 21-Jun-2026 at 13:25:10.
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