Description

PORTSMOUTH

SU6300 EDINBURGH ROAD 774-1/8/11 (North side) 10/01/53 Cathedral Church of St John the Evangelist

II

Roman Catholic cathedral. 1877-81 by J Crawley; 1881-96 by J Hansom; 1906 by Canon Alexander Scoles; restored following bomb damage 1945-50; re-ordered 1971. Red brick in Flemish bond with Portland stone dressings; plain tile roof. Decorated style. PLAN: 6-bay nave with clerestory; 6-bay aisles, western bays canted, north aisle with apsidal chapel (1925) new baptistry; west portal and 2 bell turrets (1906); crossing with transepts (1886); chancel with apse, north and south chapels, and south porch (1893). EXTERIOR: offset plinth; strings; eaves bands; gableted buttresses with offsets rising into gableted and crocketed finials; traceried windows, mostly of 2-lights with 3-light windows to clerestory and some spherical triangle windows, all having hoodmoulds and sill strings (tracery of all but south transept window restored 1945-50); board doors with decorative iron hinges in pointed-arched surrounds of several orders with carved tympana; brick parapet to nave, pierced ashlar parapet to chancel, similar blind parapet to baptistry; cross finials. West end: portal has elaborate central door in projecting gableted surround flanked by 3-light windows: a door to each return; nave has tripled 2-light windows, stepped spherical triangle over, flanked by octagonal bell towers with slit windows, louvred belfry openings, spires, and metal finials. South transept has a blind arcade below round window with spherical triangle to gable. 5-light window to north transept. Decorative metal gate in front of chancel south door. INTERIOR: pointed arched arcades and openings having clustered columns with decorative leafy capitals. Vaulted wooden ceilings with moulded ribs, pierced bands, and cusped trusses; plainer roofs to aisles. Good quality fittings include marble altar and reredos to Lady Chapel, tessellated chapel floors and free standing stations of the cross. (Balfour A: Portsmouth: Highgate Hill, N19: 1970-: 57, 58; Lloyd DW: Buildings of Portsmouth and its Environs: Portsmouth: 1974-: 129, 130; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Lloyd DW: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight: Harmondsworth: 1973-: 431, 432; Hubbuck R: Portsmouth: 1969-1976: 21; Offord J: Church, Chapels and Places of Worship on Portsea Island:

Southsea: 1989-: 102, 103, 104).

Listing NGR: SU6610802158

External Links

• Cathedral of St John the Evangelist at Wikipedia
• Cathedral of St John the Evangelist official website
• Wikidata Q1137795

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
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  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)