Church of St Luke, Talbot and Branksome Woods, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Description

768/15/162 WIMBORNE ROAD
27-FEB-76 (Northeast side)
CHURCH OF ST LUKE

II
Four bays of the nave and aisles, 1897-8, by Creeke, Gifford & Oakley of Bournemouth. East end completed 1912-13.

MATERIALS: Red brick with limestone dressings (probably Bath stone, with Portland stone sills), tiled roofs.

PLAN: Five-bay nave with lean-to aisles, south-west porch, three-bay chancel, south chapel. Subsidiary porches to nave at the east ends of the north and south aisles.

EXTERIOR: Quite a large Gothic church of red brick, dominated by the impression of long unbroken rooflines which have a leaded and shingled fleche. Facing the road is a tall buttressed west gable, flanked by low symmetrical lean-to aisles with square-headed windows of three lights. There is a big five-light west window with a rose in Geometric tracery. The long clerestory has two arched windows in each bay, i.e. ten in all, with a continuous hoodmould of rubbed brick. There is no tower, only a Gothic flèche over the east end of the nave, and a short polygonal turret against the vestries at the north-east. The building break at the easternmost bay of the nave is visible in the brickwork and the roofs. The east and west gables have flanking buttresses, of brick with stone gables and set-offs.

INTERIOR: The walls are of buff brick with banding and voussoirs of red brick, and dressed stone for the arcades etc. The nave arcades have double-chamfered arches on quatrefoil columns. Timber king-post roof with tie-beams. The north and south chancel walls have big blind arches framing the clerestory lights. The south chapel has a half-sized arcade from the chancel, of four arches on clustered columns. The chancel floor is of grey and green marble, the nave and aisles have wood block floors.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: The elaborate triptych reredos is by Walter E. Tower (of Kempe & Co.), 1924-9; painted and gilded, with figures under pinnacled canopies. Tower also designed the east window above, of 1924. There is also good stained glass by Powell & Co.; the south chapel east, 1949; and the south side of the south chapel (first, undated; second signed C.C. Powell, 1936). The north aisle west is a war memorial, by Morris & Co. (designer J.H. Dearle), 1923. The choir stalls are of oak with big poppy heads, and very open traceried stall fronts, c late 1930s. The communion rail continues unusually across both the chancel and the south chapel; of oak on wrought-iron standards of faintly Art Nouveau descent. At the chancel step is a low wrought-iron screen and gates by Messrs J. White & Son, Frome, 1937. Fine oak pulpit c. 1945-50, by W.H. Randoll Blacking; on a nicely judged flaring wineglass stem, with two tiers of panelling, and gilded and coloured shields in the upper tier. The font is c, 1898, octagonal with quatrefoiled panels, on a clustered shaft. It has a pierced conical cover. Gothic Baptistery panelling and rails in oak, made by Wake & Dean of Bristol, 1935. In the south chapel is a modern cross with a big crucifix of pearwood, said (doubtfully) to be 16th century. It was purchased in Florence by a parishioner. The original chairs remain in the south chapel, the nave has recent upholstered seating. Around the nave are free-standing cast-iron central heating radiators with decorative castings, probably Edwardian.

HISTORY: St. Luke began as a Mission Room attached to the parish church of St. John's Moordown, on the corner of Wimborne Road and Latimer Road, Winton. It opened on November 10, 1880. On March 13, 1884 it was dedicated as a church. The site of the present church was given by Mr. Cooper Dean of Littledown in 1893 and the foundation stone was laid on May 27, 1897. The builders were F. Hoare and Sons and the architects Creeke, Gifford and Oakley of Bournemouth. The first part of the building, which consisted of the present Nave up to the fourth bay from the west, was dedicated on Monday May 16, 1898. The east end was begun in 1912, completed and opened on St. Luke's Day, October 18, 1913. Consecrated on January 13, 1915 by the Bishop of Southampton. St. Luke's became a separate parish on September 24, 1917.

SOURCES:
Anon., The Churches of Bournemouth (1910), 107
Bond, D. & Dear, G., Hampshire Papers 13: the stained glass windows of William Morris and his circle in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (1998) 21.
Lands, S.J., The Growth of Winton (1978)
Pevsner, N and Lloyd, D., Buildings of England, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (1967).

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The church of St Luke, Winton, Bournemouth, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* A big and prosperous town church of 1897-8, by local architects Creeke, Gifford & Oakley.
* Exterior of bright red brick contrasting with banded brick and Bath stone within.
* Good quality and relatively undisturbed fittings create an interior which has a surprisingly authentic early 20th century atmosphere.
* Pleasing glass by Powell & Sons, and pulpit by W.H. Randoll Blacking.
* One of a third generation of High Anglican churches in Bournemouth, all stemming directly or indirectly from the work of the Rev. A.M. Bennett of St Peter.

This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 30 October 2017.

Reasons for Listing

The church of St Luke, Winton, Bournemouth, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* A big and prosperous town church of 1897-8, by local architects Creeke, Gifford & Oakley.
* Exterior of bright red brick contrasting with banded brick and Bath stone within.
* Good quality and relatively undisturbed fittings create an interior which has a surprisingly authentic early 20th century atmosphere.
* Pleasing glass by Powell & Sons, and pulpit by W.H. Randoll Blacking.
* One of a third generation of High Anglican churches in Bournemouth, all stemming directly or indirectly from the work of the Rev. A.M. Bennett of St Peter.

External Links

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