Description

CHELTENHAM

SO9521NW ST LUKE'S ROAD 630-1/19/841 Church of St Luke 14/12/83 (Formerly Listed as: COLLEGE ROAD (West side) Church of St Luke)

GV II

Church. 1853-54. By Frederick W Ordish of London. Promoter, the Rev Close; partly intended for schoolboys from nearby Cheltenham College. Cost »5,738. Chancel enlarged 1866 by John Middleton. Interior carvings probably by Boultons of Cheltenham. Drilled Cotswold stone with ashlar quoins and dressings and with plain tile roof. Middle Pointed style. PLAN: cruciform, with west tower; 4-bay aisled nave with clerestory and south porch, crossing with north and south transepts, 4-bay chancel with south lady chapel, north vestry, west tower has heavily broached spire. EXTERIOR: chamfered plinth; diagonal offset buttresses. South porch: pointed doorway has plank doors in triple-chamfer to head with hollow and roll moulding. Aisles have 3-light windows in 4-centre arched surrounds with Decorative-type tracery to heads ('highly original, unorthodox, and complicated tracery, each one different', Verey). Clerestory windows are quatrefoils in circle. Further entrance to west end at base of tower: pointed doorway with 4 orders of arches to head with hollow and roll moulding and hoodmould on foliate stops. Above a tall 3-light windows with Decorated-type tracery to pointed head, hoodmould with face stops; clock to west side; upper stage has 2-light pointed belfry openings on continuous sill band and with impost band; lucarnes to spire. Similar 3-light windows to transepts and to chancel with 5-light east window, hoodmould; Lady Chapel has lancet lights to side and 3-light window to east, similar to vestry at north. INTERIOR: nave has double-chamfered pointed arches on alternate octagonal and 4-columnar piers with wider octagonal piers to crossing, double-chamfered pointed arches to tower and side chapels, similar arches to transepts on 1/2 octagonal pillars. Double chamfered chancel arch with ovolo moulding hollow-moulded hood on corbels carved with figures and foliage. Tower has wooden screen and double doors with stained glass cusped lancets; gallery over. Chancel (enlarged and enhanced by Middleton) has arcade of 3 pointed openings with

double-chamfered heads. Chancel windows have black marble columns and moulding to head, hollow-moulded hoodmould with headstops. East end ornately carved with outer lozenges with foliate infill and septfoil panels with lily, primrose, lily of the valley etc. Above a frieze with inlaid decoration of coloured stone. Around altar an arcade with finials and pinnacles and mosaic panels within with symbols of the 4 Evangelists, on black marble plinth, and incorporating sedilia (to south) and piscina (to north); angles playing instruments to arches. Capitals have foliate decoration. Behind altar an arcade on coloured marble plinth and 'banner' inscribed 'Do this often in remembrance of me', cusped panels have faces in relief of 4 Evangelists with Christ to centre. Scissor roof on corbel faces, to nave and transepts; panelled roof to chancel. South transept has wrought-ironwork screen brought from St John's Church (since demolished); altar rail has ornate scrolled 'balusters'. Octagonal font with symbols of the Apostles on black marble pillars and with oak cover. Coalbrookedale tiled floor throughout. Octagonal oak pulpit with perpendicular-type decoration. Pine pews. HISTORICAL NOTE: interior carving has similarities with that of Church of the Holy Apostles, London Road, Charlton Kings (qv), known to be by Boultons. A complex roofscape that enhances the exterior appearance and interest of the exterior. Standing as it does in the middle of a small square, the church makes an important contribution to the townscape of the area. Notable for the variety and richness of its exterior tracery. (Sampson A and Blake S: A Cheltenham Companion: Cheltenham: 1993-: 115; Blake S: Cheltenham's Churches and Chapels AD 773-1883: Cheltenham: 1979-: 31-32; The Buildings of England: Verey D: Gloucestershire: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: London: 1970-: 129; Sladen T: Notes: 1995-).



Listing NGR: SO9508621796

External Links

• Wikidata Q26667463

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Recommended Books

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)