Former Mission Church of St Andrew

Summary

Mission Church built 1863 to the designs of Richard Reynolds Rowe.

Reasons for Designation

The former Mission Church of St Andrew, built 1863, to the designs of Richard Reynolds Rowe is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it is a finely conceived and crafted work by a significant Cambridge-based architect, typifying the vigorous architectural style of the 1860s;

* it has a simple yet bold composition given vitality by the flamboyant chimneys on the side elevations and the decorative treatment of the fenestration with its polychromatic dressings and subtle variations in plane;

* its double-height worship space is elevated by the remarkable and delicately carved Queen Post roof, the most visually arresting feature of the church.

Historic interest:

* despite the loss of the internal fixtures, it retains its architectural character and integrity as a place of worship through the polychromatic Gothic arches and the well-preserved roof structure embellished with biblical quotations.

History

The parish of Burwell originally had two churches, namely St Mary’s Church and St Andrew’s Church, the latter being demolished sometime before the mid-C19. In 1863, J W Cockshott, the vicar of St Mary’s between 1857 and 1885, raised £1,050 to erect a mission church on North Street, dedicated to St Andrew, seating 300. The following year he also started a National School for 80 labourers' children in the new St Andrew's church. The desks stood along the nave until 1871 when a separate school was built on an adjacent site on the north side of the church. Cambridge University helped to provide a salary of £120 for curates serving the church until about 1907.  St Andrew’s is still labelled as a church on the Ordnance Survey map of 1974. At some point since then, a small extension was added to the east end of the north side; and it was used as offices from around the turn of the C21, which is presumably when the interior was gutted and the concrete floor laid. The church has been vacant since 2020 and the office fittings removed.

The church was designed by the architect, surveyor and engineer Richard Reynolds Rowe (1824-1899), who was born and educated in Cambridge. His parents were Alderman Richard Rowe and Sarah Rowe (née Reynolds); and to avoid confusion with his father, he was generally known as Reynolds. In 1847 Reynolds became acquainted with Ewan Christian for whom he acted as Clerk of the Works during the building of St Thomas’s Church, Douglas, Isle of Man. In the following year he was engaged on drainage works and well-boring in Essex, and in 1850 he was appointed Engineer to the Improvement Commissioners of Cambridge, which post he held until 1869. In addition, he performed from 1852 the duties of Surveyor of Bridges and Public Works in the Isle of Ely, and from 1866 those of Engineer to the March Board of Health. For many years Reynolds acted as architect to the Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely Asylum, in connection with which he carried out extensive works. He was Clerk of Works to Ely Cathedral, and was involved, under Sir George Gilbert Scott, in the restoration of the octagon, about which he wrote a paper in 1876. He was also involved in the restoration of many medieval churches throughout Cambridgeshire, including within Cambridge the chapel of Jesus College, and Great St Mary’s. Reynolds became an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1854 (later a Fellow), and a member of the Institute of Civil Engineers in 1855.
From 1850 Reynolds practised on his own account in the town and county of Cambridge and in the Isle of Ely. He designed the vestry of Christ Church, Newmarket Road (1863), the iron-and-timber church hall of St Mark’s Church, Newnham (1871), St Peter’s Church in Prickwillow, the Cambridge Corn Exchange (1875?1876), the neighbouring Red Cow public house (1898), the almshouses on King Street (1880), and many private houses and other buildings in Cambridge. At the time of his death Reynolds was President of the Institute of Sanitary Engineers, and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, of the Surveyors’ Institution, and of the Society of Antiquaries. His funeral on 27 December at St Andrew the Great and at Mill Road Cemetery in Cambridge was a grand affair, with many architects, engineers, city dignitaries and college heads as mourners.  He has four listed buildings to his name: the Corn Exchange, the Red Cow, and the Church of St Matthew, all in Cambridge and listed at Grade II; and the Grade II* listed Church of St Mary the Virgin and St John the Baptist in Rothley, Leicestershire, which he restored and produced designs for the rebuilt chancel.

Details

Mission church built about 1868 to the designs of Richard Reynolds Rowe.

MATERIALS: brown brick laid in Flemish bond with dressings of ashlared stone and red brick, and a slate roof covering.

PLAN: the church occupies a narrow plot between two roads, its principal elevation facing west onto North Street and its rear elevation facing east onto Silver Street. It has a long rectangular plan, and a small extension (built sometime after 1974) is attached to the east end of the long north side.

EXTERIOR: the church is in the Gothic style with polychromatic detailing. It has a steeply pitched roof with overhanging eaves and exposed rafter feet, and the ridge is embellished with trefoil cresting and a row of fishscale tiles. On the principal west gable end, the ridge projects beyond the face of the wall, supported by shaped brackets, to provide shelter for the bell. On the rear east gable end, the gable head is surmounted by a floriated wheelhead stone cross, atop a cross-gable base carved with trefoils.

The church has a brick plinth and red brick quoins, and the gable ends form the principal elevations that face onto the two streets. The principal west elevation has an entrance porch on the right hand side under a low roof projecting at right angles and contains a Gothic arch plank and batten door with long strap hinges. This is set within a recessed, red brick Gothic arch of two orders, the outer one with a roll-moulding, and the whole encompassed by a stone hoodmould. Low brick boundary walls and gate piers extend for a short distance from each end of the elevation. Both the west and east gable ends are dominated by trefoil-headed triple lancet windows with metal glazing bars, each lancet set within a recessed red brick Gothic arch, the whole contained within a large red brick Gothic arch with stone hoodmould. Within the head of these arches is, on the west gable end a single cusped oculus, and on the east gable end a group of three cusped oculi. Above these windows, the west gable head is pierced by another oculus in a stone surround, and the east gable by a trefoil window opening, also in a carved stone surround.

The long north and south sides of the church are dominated by large decorative chimneys which project from the wall and rise through the eaves. The chimneys have a square base and octagonal shaft, both with red brick detailing at the corners, and a circular pot with swirling lines of red brick. The seven-bay elevations are divided by brick piers and lit by trefoil-headed triple lancet windows with stone mullions, set within recessed red brick Gothic arches.

INTERIOR: this has been gutted and does not contain any historic fixtures, other than the Gothic arch panelled doors leading from the porch into the boiler room and the church; the latter having had the upper panels replaced with glazing. The internal walls are of exposed brick, and the floor is laid in concrete. The canted ceiling is clad in matchboard panelling, laid diagonally between the ribs, and the highly decorative Queen post roof trusses have arched braces rising from the tie beams to the collar beams. The timbers are chamfered and embellished by painted decoration in gold leaf, and the tie beams are supported by delicately carved corbels. On each side of the tie beams is a label painted in gold leaf and inscribed with a biblical quotation in Gothic lettering.

The triple lancet windows along the north and south sides are grouped together under red brick Gothic arches.On each side, the recessed openings for the fireplace or stove consist of three concentric red brick arches, the inner one a round-lobed trefoil, followed by a round arch, and an outer Gothic arch.The original means of heating the church have been removed, and the opening on the north side has been opened up for a door. The principal east window is given the most elaborate treatment as the focal point of the church, and has stone columns with moulded capitals and bases attached to each mullion.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: at the east end of the church there is a low brick boundary wall with saddleback coping.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 14 October 2024 to correct a typo in the Name

Sources

Websites
Mill Road Cemetery, accessed 1 August 2014 from https://millroadcemetery.org.uk/rowe-richard-reynolds/
The Victorian Web: Literature, History, & Culture in the Age of Victoria, accessed 1 August 2024 from http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/rowe/index.html
Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History, accessed 1 August 2024 from http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Richard_Reynolds_Rowe
GENUKI, accessed 1 August 2024 from https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/CAM/Burwell
A F Wareham, A P M Wright, 'Burwell: Churches', in A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 10, Cheveley, Flendish, Staine and Staploe Hundreds (North-Eastern Cambridgeshire) (London, 2002), British History Online, accessed 1 August 2024 from https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol10/pp358-364

Other
Burwell – North Street Conservation Area, East Cambridgeshire District Council (February 2008)
Wareham, A F & Wright, A P M, 2002. The Victoria County History of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, Volume 10, pp.366-368

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