Description

TEIGNMOUTH

SX9473 DAWLISH STREET
25-1/5/134 (West side)
29/07/83 United Reform Church and attached
wall
(Formerly Listed as:
DAWLISH STREET
(West side)
United Reform Church)

GV II*

Non-conformist church. 1883, by John Salman; with school and
church hall of 1903. Squared grey Plymouth stone with cream
freestone dressings, complex slate roofs, some crested.
Complex rectangular plan.
EXTERIOR: windows are leaded with coloured glass. The main
front has steps into a right-of-centre high coped gabled porch
with a crocketed finial. The richly-carved apex incorporates
scrolls, a rose and a shield flanked by the dates 1790 and
1883. Below is a deeply-moulded pointed arch with foliate
moulding to an outer course, supported by 4 colonnettes with
stiff-leaf moulding to the caps. At the top of the steps
wrought-iron gates roll back into the wall when open. The
double half-glazed entrance doors are in the right-hand wall
(not seen from the street).
To the right of the porch is an octagonal tower in 4 stages,
the south-east facet has a defaced gabled stone plaque with
the dates 1790 and Sept 28 188- (probably 2 or 3); above is a
tall empty niche with a swept stone roof and pendants; the 3rd
stage has lancets to each facet; the top parapet has pierced
square quatrefoil panels under a moulded cornice. To the left
of the porch is a large octagonal tower in 2 stages with a
hipped roof, ornamented coved cornice, engaged colonnettes to
the angles topped by freely-carved foliate capitals. The upper
stage has wide pointed, almost semicircular, arches with
dog-tooth moulding to 3-light windows with circular windows to
the apexes. The transomed lower windows, approx 3m above the
ground, are paired; between them engaged colonnettes to the
south-west and south-east facets rest on the high plinth and
terminate on the aprons of the upper windows with lively
carved griffins.
The left return (west side) is a series of canted bays, some
with blocked windows. The west transept (toward the front of
the building), seen high above them, has a moulded stack to
the apex of the gable and a circular window above paired
pointed-arched windows.

The right return (east side) has a similar transept; offset
buttresses to the rear end articulate 2 mullioned and
transomed windows which have deeply weathered sills. To the
far right a taller gabled range with quatrefoil window has a
rectangular single-storey project bay (possibly later) with a
hipped roof and a 3-light mullioned and transomed window.
To the right of the south-west corner tower is a stair range
with lancet windows.
The coped gable to the rear has 2 loop-holes to the apex over
paired pointed-arched windows under a similar arch. To each
side are buttresses each with 2 gabled offsets which project
to the front of a single-storey lean-to flanked by 8-panelled
doors glazed to the tops.
The 3-bay 1903 schoolroom attached to the north-west has a
separate hipped roof with elaborate terra-cotta finials. The
north facade is articulated by pilasters gabled above the
eaves. The gabled central bay has a 2-light window to the top
over a gabled doorcase with a circular window over double
doors set in a shouldered arch. 2 and 3-light mullioned and
transomed windows to each side, those to the 1st floor with
trefoil heads. The returns are canted bays.
INTERIOR: unusually fine and well-articulated for a late C19
Gothic style nonconformist church, with deeply undercut
capitals to arcades, original rostrum and other details;
triple arcade to the rear gallery. Original plans indicate a
central rostrum with organ behind, now moved to one side.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the projecting bays to the north and
south ends of the east side are connected by a rock-faced wall
approx 1.5m high and 15m long which steps down toward the
south.
HISTORICAL NOTE: founded in 1790, the church was rebuilt in
stone in 1883 for »3,700. A very fine and imaginative example
of a late C19 non-conformist church in the Gothic Revival
style, built for a prosperous urban congregation. The
description in the Congregational Year Book (1881) shows that
the design was modified slightly during construction with the
use of larger traceried windows in place of lancets and the
intended school may have been completed to a different plan.
(Kelly's Directory: 1902-; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N
& Cherry B: Devon: London: 1989-: 797; Congregational Year
Book (1881)).

Listing NGR: SX9434073117

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535785

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings