Description

575/0/10063

Church of St Saviour

20-MAY-08

II
Church by William Woodward of 1902, constructed in two phases; the Chancel in 1896 and the nave in 1902 and unusually aligned north-south.

MATERIALS
The red-orange brick is locally produced and contrasts with Ancaster stone dressings. The gable roof is tiled.

EXTERIOR
The façade has a projecting porch adjoined to additional church offices from which an octagonal turret surmounted by a spirelet rises. To the east, a recessed niche contains a statue of The Christ by C.H Mabey above a pair of lancet windows. The enclosed porch has large gothic windows with beaded stone tracery. The south end of the nave has three slender lancets. On the west and east elevations, the side aisles have six panels defined with stepped, brick buttresses. Each panel has a large pointed arch window with trefoil stone and brick dressings. In the nave wall above are smaller clerestory windows arranged in pairs with stone dressings and cogged brick at the eaves. Two small transepts are beyond to the north, supporting a small central spire, and each with three lancet windows and stone detailing at the gables. The chancel beyond has pairs of lancet windows and three large lancet windows at the east end.

INTERIOR
The stately aisled interior has red brick columns, steeply pointed arcades and a vaulted crossing with detailed brick and stone ribs. The arcade piers throughout are constructed with cast iron stancheons surrounded with gauged fletton brickwork, bath-stone caps and bases.

To the north of the crossing is the gilded rood screen by Frank Peck with the crucified Christ above a later addition. The chancel beyond has a reredos, attributed to W.J Tapper, but reworked with a gilded and painted Christ in Majesty in the central panel. Beneath, a fine alabaster marble altar with five panels inlaid with green marble contain figures of the Christ, St John the Baptist, St Stephen and Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus.

The Chancel window comprising three lancets was given by William Woodward and designed and executed by Gaetano Meo, the mosaicist responsible for the domed hall at the grade I Debenham House in Holland Park. The window depicts the nativity; the central glass has Mary with the Christ-child, the magi are in the window to the right and shepherds to the left. The Sanctuary lamps are by Blunt and Wray.

The Lady Chapel to the east has a Baroque reredos and screen by Martin Travers, dating to 1925, with winged cherubs and foliate detaling. The gilded super altar has a central tabernacle containing the figure of the crucified Christ flanked by panels depicting angelic figures. Above the tabernacle, in an open pediment, is a panel with a gilded and painted figure of Mary with the Christ-child. The embossed frontal below, of silver and bronze, has central figures depicting the adoration of the magi. The memorial to Henry Frank, Frank Taylor and Mrs Burton is also by Frank Peck.

A C15 font from a redundant church in Maldon, Essex is located to the south of the nave and the bell is by Mears and Stainbank.

HISTORY
A permanent church built by a small Anglo-Catholic mission congregation on land gifted by Earl Spencer. Organised by a building committee chaired by the Bishop of Colchester, the church was designed free of charge by William Woodward in two phases; a large iron room was erected on the site in 1896 serving as a church during the construction of the Chancel. The iron room was then joined to the Chancel as a temporary nave. In 1900 the Chancel, vestry and lady chapel were blocked off, and all church services took place therein. The temporary nave was removed and work started at once to build the permanent nave, side aisles and enlarged vestry to the west completed 14 months later. In 1902 the nave was dedicated by the Bishop of Colchester.

SOURCES
www.ssaviours.org
The Builder, Nov 1927 Vol 133, p 824.
Blagdon-Gamlen, P. Martin Travers 1886-1948, A Handlist of his Work, Ecclesiological Society.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION
The church of Saint Saviour is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons.
* It has a precisely detailed exterior, in perpendicular gothic, by William Woodward, a noted architect who designed four listed commercial buildings in London.
* It has a well-executed interior space, with high quality church furniture including the chancel reredos by W.J.Tapper, Lady Chapel reredos and screen by Martin Travers, Rood Screen by Frank Peck and Chancel window by Gaetano Meo, all renowned architects and artists of the late C19 and early C20.

LISTING NGR TL1557907996

Reasons for Listing

The Church of Saint Saviour is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons.
* It has a precisely detailed exterior, in perpendicular gothic, by William Woodward, a noted architect who designed four listed commercial buildings in London.
* It has a well-executed interior space, with high quality church furniture including the chancel reredos by W.J.Tapper, Lady Chapel reredos and screen by Martin Travers, Rood Screen by Frank Peck and Chancel window by Gaetano Meo, all renowned architects and artists of the late C19 and early C20.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671814

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)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair