Description

REDDITCH B CHURCH GREEN SP 0467 NW Town Centre

12/27 Church of St Stephen

GV II

Parish church. 1854-5 by H Woodyer with alterations and additions of 1893-4 by Temple Moore. Dressed coursed sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings; slate roofs with gable-end parapets; chancel roofs set entirely behind high parapets with moulding copings. North-west tower; five-bay aisled nave with south porch; three-bay chancel with two-bay aisles and north-east lean-to vestry. Decorated style. Most openings have hood moulds with returns or stops. North-west tower: three stages with strings, chamfered plinth and angled gabled buttresses with offsets at west corners; lower stage has a cusped lancet with ogee head on the west elevation and a north archway within which are a pair of doors with basket arches on columns with moulded capitals and bases. The second stage has a pair of traceried lancets in the north and west elevations. Belfry stage has 2-light louvred openings with nookshafts; corbel table at eaves level-enriched with carved heads; octagonal broach spire with lucarnes and weathervane. At the north-east corner of the tower and rising to the second stage is an angled stair projection with two loopholes and a doorway. Nave: aisles are set beneath separate gabled roofs. Buttresses with offsets flank west window; also diagonal buttress at south- west corner; 4-light west window above small doorway; 3-light west window in south aisle with quatrefoil-in-circle opening in gable apex. North and south elevations have a sill string and buttresses flanking easternmost window and above westernmost windows; north elevation has three 3-light windows and a 4-light easternmost window; south elevation has a 2-light westernmost window, two 3-light windows and a 4-light easternmost window. South porch has steeply pitched gabled roof and cross finial at apex of gable-end parapet; gabled angled buttresses with offsets; pointed archway is enriched with ball flowers, nook shafts and shields carved on the label stops; pointed doorway within. Chancel: plinth band and stepped sill string; angled buttresses with offsets at east end; 5-light east window with a pair of ogee-arched lights beneath a pointed head in the apex; 2-light south-east window and three 3-light windows at "clerestory" level on both side elevations. Aisles have diagonal buttresses with offsets at east corners; south aisle has a 2-light and a 3- light window and another 3-light window at its east end; north aisle has a 2-light window, a door and an east window of curvilinear tracery. North-east lean-to vestry has a 3-light east window and a north door. Interior: five- bay nave arcades of two chamfered orders on octagonal piers with moulded capitals and bases; two-bay chancel arcades on circular columns with semi- circular east responds; also two-bay arcade between nave and chancel aisles on octagonal piers. Pointed chancel arch (this and the chancel arcades are by Temple Moore). Chancel has a painted plaster quadripartite vault (also by Temple Moore). Cusped arched niche with nook shafts in south-east of chancel (possibly piscina, close inspection not possible at time of survey July 1985). Reredos carved as three-bay arcade with relief panels. Wrought iron screens between nave and chancel aisles. Red marble octagonal font with octagonal stem surrounded by eight colonnettes with foliated capitals. In the vestry are set some medieval tiles from Bordesley Abbey. Glass: in the south aisle are two stained glass windows by Kempe and Tower. The westernmost bays of the nave and south aisle are separated from the main body of the church by a mid-C20 glazed partition to form a community centre. This large church occupies a prominent and elevated site in the town centre (BoE, p 248).

Listing NGR: SP0413367669

External Links

• Wikidata Q26631987

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Recommended Books

• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
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  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
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  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
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  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)