Description

SOUTHWARK

TQ3474SE FOREST HILL ROAD
636-1/61/344 (North East side)
25/08/98 Honor Oak Baptist Church and
attached walls and railings

GV II

Baptist church. Dated 1891. By George Baines; builder J Scott.
MATERIALS: brick in Flemish bond, with stone dressings and
polished granite. Roofs of slate with crest tiles. Gothic
Revival style.
EXTERIOR: all openings pointed arched and in stone unless
otherwise noted.
High 5-side apse, the 3 eastmost facets finishing in facing
gables with 2-light windows; roof finishes in cast-iron
finial. Facing gable to vestry on ritual south-east and hipped
roof to that on the north. Nave of 5 bays, with north and
south aisles; west porch flanked by turrets with high mansard
roofs and cast-iron finials. Between ritual north turret and
porch a spirelet, now missing its peak. On the centre of the
nave ridge a square cupola with high mansarded roof.
Box-framed dormer in eastmost bay of north aisle. North aisle
elevation in 2nd and 4th bays finish in gabled dormers, each
pierced by 2-light windows. Remaining bays lit by sexfoil
roundels. All ground-floor windows lit by double lancets; each
bay marked by setback buttresses.
At west end, aisles angled back to form an arched join with
polygonal turret; flat-arched door in pointed-arch aedicule to
north face of turret. Top stage of flanking west turrets lit
by clerestory lights and lancets in pointed-arched surrounds.
West elevation dominated by pair of 2-light windows set in
super arch, its peak pierced by quatrefoil round; lower
section of window occluded by gable of entrance.
Shallow entrance porch entered by 2-light diaphragm arch;
sub-ordered jambs and polished granite shafts. Gable kneelers
to porch and clasping buttresses to sides. Small lancet to
either side lights narthex. Peak of gable to porch bears
shield with date 1891. Inscribed to left of entrance: This
stone was laid by J. Briscoe President of London Baptist
Association, 22 April 1891, I. Samuel VII 12v. George Baines
Architect. To the left the following inscription: This stone
was laid by the Revd J. T. Walker, Ex-President of Baptist
Union, 22 April, 1891, Psalm CXVIII, J. Scott Builder.
INTERIOR: sexpartite wood vaulting to shallow apse;
sub-ordered chancel arch on corbel shafts. All corbel shafts
carved with naturalistic ornament of great vigour. Nave arcade

carried on cast-iron columns, originally intended for
galleries, never constructed; each arch consists of pointed,
timber-arched truss. Arched braces span the aisles. Tied
hammer beam truss to each nave bay with pointed, wood boarded
barrel vault.
FITTINGS: the chancel furnishings, organ, and baptistry at the
ritual east end are intact and noteworthy, as are the original
benches in the easternmost bays of the nave.
After 1960 the west end of nave given a drop ceiling and
enclosure which has not harmed the original architecture.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: attached low brick walls with piers at
regular intervals and cast-iron railings.

Listing NGR: TQ3490474376

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26665315

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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