Details
ST 68 SE WESTERLEIGH C.P. BADMINTON ROAD, Coalpit Heath (west
side)
1/317
18.11.81 Church of St. Saviour
G.V.
II*
Parish church. 1844-5 by William Butterfield, his first Anglican commission;
alterations to north vestry to accommodate organ chamber c. 1908. Limestone
rubble with few pieces of drissed masonry, Bath stone dressings with "Butterfieldian"
irregular quoins, slate roofs with finials to nave and chancel. West tower,
aisled nave, south porch, chancel and north vestry. Gothic, in a muscular Early
Decorated style; informal spatial relationship between Church of St. Saviour,
lychgate (q.v.) and Vicarage (q.v.). 2-stage tower has pointed arched west
window with reticulated tracery, pointed arched windows in belfry with bell
louvres and clock, hipped roof behind parapet, cockerel weathervane; weathered
and angle buttresses, string courses and quoins. 4-bay aisles each have west
window, south aisle has east window, 4 windows to north and 3 to south, all
2-light pointed arched windows with cusped trefoil heads and quatrefoil panel
above, hood moulds with mask stops; weathered buttressesand angle buttresses,
pitched roofs with raised coped verges. South porch in 2nd bay from left,
steeply gabled with raised coped verges and cross finial, small trefoil-headed
light to each side, buttresses, pointed arched hollow-chamfered door with hood
mould. 2-bay chancel has similar tall 3-light east window, 2-light north window,
to south, tall pointed arched 2-light window, buttress, pointed arched door and
smaller 2-light window; lower string course runs along cills of windows and over
head of door, continued to east and north, upper string around heads of windows,
also continuous, both interrupted by buttresses; angle buttresses. North vestry
in angle between north aisle and chancel, later extended to east, has 2-span roof,
central external stack, two 2-light windows to north, pointed segmental headed
studded door to east and similar window. Butterfield's ground plan shows only
one north window and east door. Interior: pointed tower arch has wooden screen,
formerly Butterfield's chancel screen, with trefoil-headed upper glazed section,
balusters and heavy cornice. Nave has 4-bay arcade to north and south with
pointed arches and octagonal piers; 5-bay roof with scissors trusses rising from
stone corbels, common rafters, in stained deal. North aisle has pointed arch to
east, opened later, with similar wooden screen; aisles have 7-bay roof with
principal and common rafters, one row of purlins and strut from purlin to corbel
at arcade above piers. Porch has pointed arched door with hollow-chamfered
surround, heavy studded door with fine ironwork around keyhole and plate for ring
handle; 3-bay scissors truss roof. Wide pointed chancel arch with polygonal
jamb shafts, hood mould with mask stops, wooden screen designed by Harold Brakspear
c. 1930; former pulpit door to left of chancel arch, blocked when vestry was
extended and organ brought in. South priest's door blocked, with chamfered
pointed segmental head; trefoil headed piscina and sedilia to south, credance
shelf to north, pointed arched door to vestry. Vestry has fireplace with pointed
segmental head. Interior is entirely axial, apart from the placing of the pulpit
and north vestry door; chancel arch kept lower than the arcades, so that from the
west end its apex seems to meet that of the east window. Fittings; stone pulpit
in nave, to left of chancel arch, an octagon rising from a square base, its thick
neck almost buried by the encroaching volumes, traceried panels; octagonal stone
font in nave; pews in nave and aisles, designed by Butterfield, with poppy head
bench ends. Brass chandelier in chancel; early C20 wooden reredos panelling.
Stained glass in south aisle east window, dedicated to Annie Hewitt, 1915,
daughter of William Hewitt one of the first church wardens, 1846-8. (Sources:
Verey, D. : Buildings of England Gloucestershire : The Vale and The Forest of
Dean. 1970. Thompson, P. : William Butterfield. 1971. Incorporated Church
Building Society ; file 3434. Drawings : RIBA. Hitchcock, H.R. : Early
Victorian Architecture in Britain, vol. 1. 1954. The Builder, 1845.
Ecclesiologist, 3, 1844).
Listing NGR: ST6737280760
