Description

LONDON ROAD 1. 5253 (West Side) Sawbridgeworth Congregational Church TL 4801 1464:3/13 II GV 2. 1862-3 by Poulton and Woodman, architects of Reading. Opened April 1863 as church and schoolroom. Extension to N1911. Polychrome brick church with bath stone dressings and steep slate roof of 2 colours banded. Early English style. 5 bay church with W apse (organ) and E gallery over entrance lobby. Buttressed square tower with shingled spire rises over NE corner. Lower vestry at SW next apse. Integral 4 bay schoolroom set back on N side with 4 bay arcade opening it up to church. Original sliding screens closing off schoolroom still in use. Linked by arch,2 storey brick extension to N. Modern hall at rear of extension. 3 part E front to church, centre flanked by narrow recessed parts. Yellow stock brick. White brick plinth offsets. 5 polychrome bands in height of gable and each of 3 courses of white brick with blue brick course above and below. Central quatrefoil datestone below tall E window. Stone plate tracery with 4 lancets topped by blind 6-pointed star and a pyramid of 3 quatrefoils. 3 ring header arch in white brick over stone arch, outer ring has blue header at every 3rd brick. Steep stone copings, kneelers and trefoil finial. Louvred trefoil opening in upper part of gable sunk in stone infill to pointed arched top opening with segmental cill. Steep stone copings to porch on SE projecting to plane of centre. 2 centred pointed arch to door. Stone dressings with 3 ring brick arch. Similar door in base of NE tower of 4 stages with paired buttresses running up 2 stages. It has brick banding linking to centre. Very narrow lancets to 1st and 2nd stage and 2 to 4th stage. Quatrefoil in circular brick opening to 3rd stage. Diminished 4th stage and brick corbelling to base of pyramid spire. Schoolroom set back depth of tower. E front has corresponding plinth and brick bands. Polygonal headed door on right. 2 small lancets rising for stair to church gallery. Large central window with stone place tracery of 3 quatrefoils recessed in equilateral curved triangle under polychrome brick arch. Small stone triangular vent above and a stone coping. Plank door with decorative iron hinges. Diamond leaded glazing throughout. Flanks of church and schoolroom have plinth and polychrome brick bands and buttresses with stone offsets. 1st buttress on SE has '18 AW 62' cut in brick. Brick eaves corbels. Paired stone lancet windows with diamond leaded lights and pivoted metal opening section in each lefthand light, 2 storey stock brick extension of 1911 on N. Plum brick dressings. Stone coping to front parapet and central gable and kneelers. 2 storey recessed arch feature in centre. 3 light wooden casements. Transoms to Gd floor windows. Rectangular leaded lights. Elaborate foundation stone. 4 bay arcade in church has paired columns like a cloister with C13 style floral joint capitals. Boarded dado with top rail decorated with quatrefoils. Stone corbels support open timber roof of uniform scantling. Central raised pine pulpit with dog-tooth arches and heavy bar mouldings. Old panelled pews are used as dado in schoolroom. Bath for adult immersion installed under dias in 1938. (Pevsner 2nd Ed Ed Rev (1977) 335: WEA II (1967) 51-6: Church Building Centenary booklet (1963).

Listing NGR: TL4801414644

External Links

• Wikidata Q26395305

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Recommended Books

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  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
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  For the Record
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  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)