Description
This list entry was subjected to a Minor Enhancement on the 26 October 2022 to update the description and to reformat the text to current standards
TF91604342
615/0/193
WELLS NEXT THE SEA
THE BUTTLANDS (West side)
Church of Our Lady Star of the Sea including front walls
GV
II
Church. 1928 by ASG Butler.
MATERIALS: red brick with stone dressings, pantiled roofs.
PLAN: nave, aisles, southeast nave chapel, chancel with a north chapel and south sacristy. Arts and Crafts style, an unusual blend of vernacular and East Anglian Dutch and Cape Dutch.
EXTERIOR: east front, liturgically the west, in form of single three-tier shaped gable. Canted single-storey porch with gabled parapet and double leaf plank doors set under pointed arch. One single-light window to right and left. Three-light Perpendicular window, on lintel with statuary niche containing carved Virgin and Child above. Stone Latin cross on gable apex. Aisles with one single-light and two three-light hollow-chamfered mullioned windows. The aisles are built of Fletton brick and have a tall chimney for a stove at the east end. Three segmental-headed clerestory windows made of timber, with leaded lights. The sanctuary is continuous with the nave, the chancel projects slightly. Chancel with one two-light Perpendicular window to north and south and two trefoil head west lights.
INTERIOR: four Three bays of semi-circular arcade arches on chamfered square piers. There are round transverse arches to narrow aisles. East gallery on chamfered square timber posts reached by staircase on south side. Splat baluster balustrade. The nave piers and arcade springings are of stone, but the arches and walls are of plastered brick. The panelling of the sanctuary includes an aumbry (south) and credence (north) and the sanctuary floor is of pamments and a red-veined black marble. The church has a tie-beam roof with arched braces, with king posts and queen struts. Plain hexagonal font tucked into a recess south of the entrance door. All three altars are of stone with a large predella panel of coloured marble. Stations of the Cross in plaster attached to aisle walls by M Chantrel, 1924. The Sacred Heart chapel has a flat ceiling. The chapel of Our Lady has a pitched ceiling and an arched triangular window divided into three by mullions in its end wall. The solid bench seating is original and fixed to the flat pine floor.
FRONT WALLS: attached curving brick walls sweep out north and south of entrance front. The walls include a central raised brick cross. An unusual, very fine and little-altered example of a small church of the period.
External Links
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Recommended Books
The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)