Description

The following building shall be added to the list

TOPSHAM FORE STREET
SX 98 NE
8/1252 Methodist Church
GV
II

Wesleyan Methodist church. 1867-9 by J R N Haswell of North Shields. Dressed
local grey limestone rubble with red sandstone and Bathstone dressings. Slate
roof with stone coped gable ends and scalloped red clay ridge tiles. High
Victorian Gothic style, early French Gothic. Plan: Nave, chancel, transepts,
north and south porches at west end, round stair tower on south-west corner
and vestry in the east angle of the south transept. Exterior: The gabled
west front has 5 lancets on ground floor with hoodmoulds and plate-tracery
rose window in moulded 2-centred arch with nook shafts in gable above; the
impost on right continues as cornice of the round right-hand corner tower.
The string course below the rose window also runs around the tower and there
are lancets above it. The tower has a copper-clad conical roof with wrought
iron finial. On the left hand corner a large buttress with set-offs and gabled
north porch with moulded 2-centred arch doorway on front with plank doors
and wrought iron hinges. The right-hand (south) porch is set back behind
the tower on the south elevation. The south elevation, including the transept,
has lancet windows and the transept has a round window in the gable. The
apsidal east end of the chancel has lancets and on the south side the vestry
has a lean-to roof from which rises the battered shaft of the stack. North
elevation not investigated. Interior: Gallery at west end of nave on iron
posts. The nave roof has tie-beam trusses with arch braces on stone corbels
and king-posts; the transepts have common rafter roofs with ashlar pieces.
Chancel has scissor-braced rafter roof with ashlar pieces. Moulded 2-centred
chancel arch on marble colonnettes with capitals and corbels. Moulded
2-centred transept arches. All the main furnishings and fittings are intact
including benches, pulpit with traceried panels, reading desk, choir stalls,
iron and brass sanctuary rail, wooden altar table. Organ in recess on north
side of chancel has painted pipes. Lancets in apex have trained glass of
1860s and 70s designed by Heaton, Butler and Bayne.
Source: Information provided by C Brooks.

Listing NGR: SX9659688093

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Nicholas Methodist Church official website
• Wikidata Q18602013

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

• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)