Description

WEYMOUTH

SY6880SW DORCHESTER ROAD 873-1/16/69 (East side) 12/12/53 Church of St John The Evangelist

GV II*

Anglican parish church, built as a chapel of ease to St Mary's. Opened October 1854 (Kelly), transepts added c1868. By John Bury. Coursed and square Portland stone with cream ashlar dressings, green slate roofs. PLAN: the church in Decorated style is oriented with the main altar to the N, and lies at the junction of Dorchester Road with Greenhill. It has a 6-bay nave with clerestorey and aisles, SW tower with porch, E porch, twin-gabled transepts, chancel with chapels, NW vestry. EXTERIOR: windows generally have stopped labels, and copings are saddle-backed; there are stone terminal crosses to the nave, chancel, and 2 porches. The 3-stage tower has an octagonal broach spire with lucarnes at 2 levels, corner buttresses finished to a gable in the top stage, a stair clamp at its junction with the aisle, and 2-light openings with fretted screens and plate tracery to the bell stage. Facing S is a deep porch with gable stopped to carved angels, and stone vault, on 6 full-width stone steps, over a pair of plank doors with strap hinges. The plinth runs round the whole building, developing greater depth on the W side where the ground falls away. The nave S end has a large 5-light window incorporating a rose, and under a small spherical triangle with trefoil, and a slightly set back aisle with 2-light window. The E side, to Greenhill, has four 2-light clerestorey windows to segmental pointed heads divided by flat pilasters under a roll-mould stone eaves and gutter, and large stone gargoyles at the chancel end. The aisle has three 2-light windows separated by square buttresses to 2 offsets, and at the left end the projecting porch with squat diagonal buttresses. The twin-gabled transept, with ridges below the clerestorey gutter level and central valley gutter, has a central and corner diagonal buttresses, and 3-light windows; on the E side there is a large carved gargoyle figure at the outlet from the central valley to the transept. The return transept wall to the S is plain, but with C20 ventilating ducting externally. The chancel, narrower and lower than the nave, has a deep 2-light window to the E and W, diagonal buttresses, and a large 5-light N window. The chapel

in the internal angle on the E side has ball-flower decoration to the eaves cornice, a 2-light window, central and diagonal corner buttresses, and a 2-light window to the N. On the W side the internal angle is filled with a complex of chapel and vestry, including twin gables, and a lower, flat-roofed range with octagonal projecting unit. The W side otherwise corresponds with the E in layout and detailing. INTERIOR: painted plaster walls, on carpeting throughout, except for Minton tiling in the sanctuary area. The nave has arch-braced trusses, carried on long wall posts to leaf corbels, plus deep brattished tie-beams, and a king-post. The arcades are in 2 chamfered orders with labels to foliage stops, on octagonal piers; at the transept position the pier is extended as a short length of walling each side. The aisles have 'propped' lean-to roofs, and dado panelling to sill height. The doubled transepts have transverse arch-braced roofs and a 2-bay arcade, but the outer bays are closed off on each side by a lightweight screen to approx 2.5m height. The N wall of the right transept has a large blocked archway, and to the left transept is a door in moulded arch, under a pierced stone panel with 4 trefoils, presumably in conjunction with the adjacent organ gallery. The deep chancel has a panelled multi-facet barrel ceiling. The richly carved stone reredos is flanked by dark panelling in Gothic detailing each side, with 2 canopied stalls to the right. To the left is the main organ case, in a high flat segmental arch. FITTINGS: octagonal stone pulpit, brass lectern and brass communion rail, fine carved altar front. No pews or fixed seating. Many of the windows contain stained glass, including the great S ('W') window of 1862, a memorial to Georgina Phipps, wife to John Stephenson (d.1905), the first vicar to St John's. The church, which stands on a busy traffic island, is the most prominent building on the sea-front, visible from most parts of the town, and acting as a visual focus at the N end of the Esplanade. Its lofty tower and spire are reminiscent of the work of Benjamin Ferrey, who was the Diocesan architect at the time. (Buildings of England: Newman J & Pevsner N: Dorset: London: 1972-: 451).





Listing NGR: SY6823080058

External Links

• Church of St John the Evangelist at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17554205

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.

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