Description

PORTSMOUTH

SU60NE LONDON ROAD, Portsdown
774-1/2/291 (East side)
25/09/72 Christ Church
(Formerly Listed as:
LONDON ROAD, Widley
Christ Church, Portsdown)

II

Church. 1874. By J Colson. Flint with stone dressings. Plain
tiled roofs.
STYLE: Neo-Norman.
PLAN: 4-bay aisled nave, 1-bay chancel with apsidal end, north
organ loft and south vestry and chapel. South-west tower and
entrance porch.
EXTERIOR: tower: 3 stages with clasping pilaster buttresses,
stone coped plinth. West face: 1st stage, at centre is a
2-leaf round-headed boarded door with ornate iron strap hinges
set under round stone arch with zig-zag ornament, banded
hoodmould, rusticated stone jambs and flanking colonnettes.
2nd stage, shallow clasping pilasters. Small narrow splayed
stone round-headed window with diamond pattern leaded lights
and plain glass, oculus above and stone band. 3rd stage, 2
narrow splayed stone openings with round arch each with
horizontal louvres. Stone hoodmould and band. Stone parapet
and coping. South face is similar to west except 1st stage
which has 2 narrow round-headed windows. North and east faces
have similar 3rd stage louvred windows.
To left of tower the nave west face has 2 long narrow windows
each set under stone round arch with rusticated jambs.
Clasping buttress at north corner. At high level is an oculus
with plain stone surround. Facing gable and stone finial. To
left of nave the recessed face of the north aisle has a
2-light stone window, each light set under a round stone arch
with round stone relieving arch over the pair. To right corner
at abutment with nave is a stone porch with round-headed
boarded door. South face of aisle has 4 paired stone
round-headed windows with rusticated jambs. Flanking pilaster
buttresses. Chancel with lower roof has similar but shorter
paired window. Apse at east face has 3 wide round-headed stone
windows, short flanking pilaster buttresses with stone
weathered caps. Stone parapet. To left of apse (south) the
vestry and chapel has boarded entrance door set under round
stone arch with rusticated jambs. Adjacent to doorway stone
steps lead to boiler room. To right of apse (north) is a
similar doorway.

INTERIOR: nave arcades with stone columns, 'Norman' capitals
and moulded stone round arches. Nave and chancel have boarded
ceilings with timber trussed rafter roofs. Aisles have scissor
braced roofs with boarded ceilings. The east windows have
stained glass, aisle windows stained glass by Mr Farrer Bell
(c1952-61) commemorating various local figures. The two west
windows have D-Day (2nd World War) memorial stained glass by
Reginald Bell (c1948).
(Lloyd DW: Buildings of Portsmouth and its Environs:
Portsmouth: 1974-: 127; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N &
Lloyd DW: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight: Harmondsworth:
1973-: 468).

Listing NGR: SU6610802158

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Online. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 27 October 2017.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26618202

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

• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)