Details
WEYMOUTH
SY6880SW DORCHESTER ROAD
873-1/16/69 (East side)
12/12/53 Church of St John The Evangelist
GV II*
Anglican parish church, built as a chapel of ease to St
Mary's. Opened October 1854 (Kelly), transepts added c1868. By
John Bury. Coursed and square Portland stone with cream ashlar
dressings, green slate roofs.
PLAN: the church in Decorated style is oriented with the main
altar to the N, and lies at the junction of Dorchester Road
with Greenhill. It has a 6-bay nave with clerestorey and
aisles, SW tower with porch, E porch, twin-gabled transepts,
chancel with chapels, NW vestry.
EXTERIOR: windows generally have stopped labels, and copings
are saddle-backed; there are stone terminal crosses to the
nave, chancel, and 2 porches.
The 3-stage tower has an octagonal broach spire with lucarnes
at 2 levels, corner buttresses finished to a gable in the top
stage, a stair clamp at its junction with the aisle, and
2-light openings with fretted screens and plate tracery to the
bell stage.
Facing S is a deep porch with gable stopped to carved angels,
and stone vault, on 6 full-width stone steps, over a pair of
plank doors with strap hinges. The plinth runs round the whole
building, developing greater depth on the W side where the
ground falls away. The nave S end has a large 5-light window
incorporating a rose, and under a small spherical triangle
with trefoil, and a slightly set back aisle with 2-light
window.
The E side, to Greenhill, has four 2-light clerestorey windows
to segmental pointed heads divided by flat pilasters under a
roll-mould stone eaves and gutter, and large stone gargoyles
at the chancel end. The aisle has three 2-light windows
separated by square buttresses to 2 offsets, and at the left
end the projecting porch with squat diagonal buttresses. The
twin-gabled transept, with ridges below the clerestorey gutter
level and central valley gutter, has a central and corner
diagonal buttresses, and 3-light windows; on the E side there
is a large carved gargoyle figure at the outlet from the
central valley to the transept.
The return transept wall to the S is plain, but with C20
ventilating ducting externally. The chancel, narrower and
lower than the nave, has a deep 2-light window to the E and W,
diagonal buttresses, and a large 5-light N window. The chapel
in the internal angle on the E side has ball-flower decoration
to the eaves cornice, a 2-light window, central and diagonal
corner buttresses, and a 2-light window to the N. On the W
side the internal angle is filled with a complex of chapel and
vestry, including twin gables, and a lower, flat-roofed range
with octagonal projecting unit. The W side otherwise
corresponds with the E in layout and detailing.
INTERIOR: painted plaster walls, on carpeting throughout,
except for Minton tiling in the sanctuary area. The nave has
arch-braced trusses, carried on long wall posts to leaf
corbels, plus deep brattished tie-beams, and a king-post. The
arcades are in 2 chamfered orders with labels to foliage
stops, on octagonal piers; at the transept position the pier
is extended as a short length of walling each side. The aisles
have 'propped' lean-to roofs, and dado panelling to sill
height. The doubled transepts have transverse arch-braced
roofs and a 2-bay arcade, but the outer bays are closed off on
each side by a lightweight screen to approx 2.5m height.
The N wall of the right transept has a large blocked archway,
and to the left transept is a door in moulded arch, under a
pierced stone panel with 4 trefoils, presumably in conjunction
with the adjacent organ gallery.
The deep chancel has a panelled multi-facet barrel ceiling.
The richly carved stone reredos is flanked by dark panelling
in Gothic detailing each side, with 2 canopied stalls to the
right. To the left is the main organ case, in a high flat
segmental arch.
FITTINGS: octagonal stone pulpit, brass lectern and brass
communion rail, fine carved altar front. No pews or fixed
seating. Many of the windows contain stained glass, including
the great S ('W') window of 1862, a memorial to Georgina
Phipps, wife to John Stephenson (d.1905), the first vicar to
St John's.
The church, which stands on a busy traffic island, is the most
prominent building on the sea-front, visible from most parts
of the town, and acting as a visual focus at the N end of the
Esplanade. Its lofty tower and spire are reminiscent of the
work of Benjamin Ferrey, who was the Diocesan architect at the
time.
(Buildings of England: Newman J & Pevsner N: Dorset: London:
1972-: 451).
Listing NGR: SY6823080058
