Church of St John the Evangelist

Details

926/5/172 MOULSHAM STREET 14-DEC-78 (East side) Church of St John the Evangelist

II 1836-7, design by J W Wild but executed by Stephen Webb, a local architect: at this stage the church only had a nave and shallow chancel in the usual tradition of the 1830s. Chancel enlarged by Joseph Clarke, 1851 and with the addition of transepts and chancel aisles and a south vestry. 1873-4 choir vestry (north) by Frederic Chancellor. 1882 west tower and additional bay of nave also by Chancellor. 1996-2005 west part of nave divided off and subdivided.

MATERIALS: White brick with limestone dressings. Slate roofs.

PLAN: Nave, chancel, south porch, south transept, double north transept, west tower, south vestry, south chapel, south vestry.

EXTERIOR: The core of the original building is the nave (apart from the west bay) with its plain lancet windows which are linked together by a stringcourse which extends over the windows as a hood. Subsequent, successive enlargements have greatly altered the proportions of the building. The most distinctive addition is the large west tower added in 1882. This is of three stages, has angle buttresses and, on the north side, a circular stair turret with a conical cap. There is a Bath stone west portal with a richly moulded head and three orders of engaged shafts. It has a tympanum depicting John the Evangelist and his emblem, an eagle, and also St Michael defeating a dragon. The east parts of the church are the product of piecemeal enlargement and are dominated by the large pair of transepts on the north side. They have a pair of gables, each of which covers a pair of lancet windows with an oculus over them. The east end of the chancel has three graded lancets and a mandorla over.

INTERIOR: The walls are plastered and whitened throughout. The east end of the nave opens into transepts through wide arches with chamfered arches, foliage capitals and semi-circular responds. The chancel arch is larger and has a multi-moulded head and pairs of shafts to the responds and foliage capitals. Further arches lead to the south chapel (from the nave and chancel) and to the organ chamber transept (although this is largely hidden by the organ case and pipes). Between the two north transepts there is an arcade (now filled in to provide clear separation between the two parts). The roof over the east parts of the nave is original to the 1830s building and is a typical construction of the time with tie-beams, queen-posts and raked struts. The chancel roof is arch-braced. The west end of the nave has been walled off from the rest: it has a central pointed doorway from the east parts and also a pair of tall blind lancets. These were intended to house the Kempe windows (with back lighting) from the nave side windows but this has never taken place. However, the fact that the arches match the nave side windows means that the new wall does not look at all out of place with the rest of the church.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: A number of items survive from the C19. The font (relocated to the north transept) is octagonal and has plain sides with a frieze at top and bottom, and a base with short, stubby shafts. The polygonal pulpit is quite ornate with pairs of cusped arches to each face. The C19 pews survive in the east part of the nave: they have medieval-style square ends but have, regrettably, been painted maroon. The chancel has graduated triple sedilia. Near the entrance to the south transept is an unusual Gothic monument to Henry Guy (d 1859) by J M Lockyear: it is a large mural tablet of Sicilian marble inlaid with black and coloured marble, with lettering framed by a Gothic arch. There are various windows from the late C19 and early C20: two nave lancets are by Kempe, 1902; the tower south window is by W B Simpson and Sons, 1883.

HISTORY: The church was built to serve the needs of Anglicans as Chelmsford expanded in the 1830s. One of the prime movers to building and endowing the church was Henry Guy (d 1959) who is commemorated in a Gothic wall monument (see Principal Fixtures). Frederic Chancellor (1825-1918), who was responsible for later C19 work at the church, was a successful provincial architect based in Chelmsford where he began independent practice in 1846. He was mayor of Chelmsford seven times from 1888.

SOURCES: Bettley, J and Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Essex, (2007) 207

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The Church of St John the Evangelist, Chelsford, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It is a multi-phase C19 church ranging in date from the mid-1830s to the 1880s. Its earliest phase is clearly visible in the plain lancet style of the nave and there are successive additions apparent to the east, and in the west part of the nave and the provision of the prominent west tower * It retains its roof from the 1830s along with other items from the C19 * The partitioning off of the west part of the nave has been handled with some care to blend with the rest of the interior

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

352530

Legacy System:

LBS

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