Details
HISTON
219/0/10022 POPLAR ROAD
19-OCT-04 Histon Baptist Church and Sunday School
II
Also Known As: Histon Baptist Church, STATION ROAD
Baptist church and school. Church, 1899-1900 by George Baines, extended 1908. School 1901 by George & R.P.Baines. Both linked by office, kitchen and courtyard extension c1990. On land donated by the Chivers family, who lived nearby. Both red brick with stone dressings, tile hanging to school, tile roofs. Church to north, school to south, both aligned east to west with entrances to east.
CHURCH: Campanile at north east angle set forward from nave. South aisle, north and south transepts, canted apsidal west end, northwest vestries. East front. Five-light east window, with tall buttress shaft to south. Gable end cross. Gabled canted porch with stepped angle buttresses. Pair of vertically boarded doors on ornate iron hinges, under traceried overlight. Flanking rectangular window to each side, all under parapet. Remains of porch gable cross. Buttressed south bay with single light, under corbelled parapet. Three stage campanile, with flush stone bands and moulded band beneath upper stage. Foundation stone at base, inscribed, 'This memorial stone was laid by Mr Stephen Chivers June 29th 1899.' Tall single light. Blind two-light cusped opening to upper stage. Splayed corbel table supporting splayed tile roof surmounted by simple weathervane. North east angle buttress with similar corbelling to southern bay. Three-bay nave with two-light cusped windows in flush stone surrounds. Plain north transept with three-light window with flush band. South aisle with similar windows, possibly reused, all beneath shaped parapet. Half hipped roof to east. South transept said to be extended southwards. Three-light window between flush stone band. Stone bands to gable framing small vertical openings. Flat-roofed porch under shaped parapet, with rectangular vertically boarded door in stone surround. Canted west end with spherical triangle windows each with trefoiled light, to each face. Canted vestry with rectangular windows under ogival stone lintels. Single storey office, with doors and windows now blocked. All roofs of tile, with ridge cresting; the church reroofed c2000. Lantern, reduced in height, 1940s, has tile-hung rectangular base, with cusped open timber lantern under splayed tile roof.
Interior. Small lobby at east end. Stage at west end, with baptistery behind. Otherwise arranged as Anglican church with pulpit set into stage. Rectangular arrangement of rows of pews. South aisle supported on dark red marble shafts with stone stiff leaf capitals and bases. Hammer beam roof with pierced brackets rising on south side from arcade, elsewhere on moulded stone corbels. Similar transept roofs. Moulded stone transept and apse arches, the latter on deep, foliate, stone corbels with foliate bosses. Pine dado. Baptistery, lined in grey marble and white glazed tiles, has robust iron balustrade with scrolled moulded rail. Octagonal stone pulpit, with iron balustrade and plain rail. Possibly a later introduction, it is sunk into stage, shaft hidden. Stage extended into church c1953. C17 oak panelling behind baptistery, donated 1953, by Chivers family, from demolished Impington Hall. Moveable table and set of chairs, three with pierced backs, two with plain curved backs. Straight pine pews, somewhat reordered. Seating removed from north transept and east end of aisle. Lobby has pair of part glazed single doors in architraves of round section timber shafts and beams. Pair of inner lobby doors which fold back. Polychrome tile floor. Boarded ceiling. Coloured glass in apse windows, by H.M.Brock of Cambridge, donated 1929 in memory of John Chivers. Organ donated 1904 in memory of Stephen Chivers. Vestry. Fireplace with moulded timber chimneypiece with Prince of Wales feathers, brown tile slips, part of iron grate. Flanking cupboard with shaped head. Plaque with history of the church and donors. Former W.C., now cupboard to west.
SCHOOL: Aisled hall aligned east west, with small schoolroom to west and extended and altered rooms to north and west. Symmetrical west end. Three-light window with flush impost band. Set between offset buttress shafts. North and south aisles with angle buttresses, each with single cusped west window . Flush cill band continuing across porch. Curved, flat-roofed buttressed porch with embattled parapet. Four- light horizontal window. Pair of rectangular doorways in moulded stone openings. Each with pair of vertically boarded doors with enriched strap hinges. Foundation stone inscribed: `this stone was laid to the Glory of God April 8th 1901.' Moulded stone band with crocketed finials above doors. Gable end cross. Ridge lantern: rectangular tile-hung base with open cusped timber lantern under ogival tile roof. Ridge cresting to tile roofs, which have exposed rafter feet. Four-bay north and south elevation: aisles have three-light rectangular stone windows with cusped lights. Tiled roofs also with exposed rafter feet. Tile-hung clerestorey with plain, timber rectangular three-light windows. All windows with leaded lights, with coloured glass panels. Three-light cusped west window. West school room, aligned north-south with lower roofline than main hall. Three-light south window under hoodmould with flush impost and cill band. Remains of gable finial or cross. Tall square sectioned rear stack with deep moulded collar, and tall terracotta moulded shaft with moulded cap and base. Hipped roofed single storey wing, now kitchens to west of this. Tall rectangular stack with pair of similar moulded terracotta shafts, to rear of northern wing. North wing has single two-light window to south. Altered window, now door, in former north wall, retains traceried head.
Interior. Timber arcade of moulded shafts has slender open, braced, arches. Two western bays filled in but arcade structure remains. Slender roof with false hammerbeams supported on curved, braced, brackets; panelled ceiling with exposed purlins. Broad moulded depressed arch to west end, formerly open, now partitioned with inserted doors. Small east lobby with pair of inner doors to hall. Doors, now boarded over, are in similar round sectioned architraves to church lobby. Polychrome tile floor. Two-bay former schoolroom, now crèche room has moulded brackets supporting roof of exposed moulded timbers. Behind main hall, coffered roof to space with plain three-light west window.
HISTORY: The church and school were built on land donated by the Chivers family in 1899. Stephen Chivers was Senior Deacon and Sunday School Superintendant.
The hall was extended to north and west c1990 linking church to hall with offices and kitchens set round a courtyard.
A good quality 1899 Baptist Church by George Baines with School added 1901 by George and R P Baines.
[church guide " Histon Baptist Church 1858 - 1958."]
