Clifton: St John the Evangelist
Overview
Grid reference: ST 574 745
The church of St. John, Clifton, was built at a time when the ecclesiological movement was hardly beginning to make itself felt in Bristol (although in the same year Dyer built the majority of Christ Church, Clifton, not far away, in a reasonably correct Early English), and the local architects on the whole were still unshakably wedded to the old archaeologically incorrect gothic which consisted more of Gothic details applied to a classical body.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Five-bay nave without aisles but the wider east bay opening into shallow transeptal projections; west door flanked by twin turrets; chancel with north organ chamber and south vestries.
Description of Archaeology and History
The church was designed in 1841 by John Hicks as part of the development of Clifton as a rich and fashionable residential area. Hicks was a member of the Bristol and West of England Architectural Society which was founded in the year of the building of this church. The chancel was added in 1861 by Samuel Burleigh Gabriel, architect of St. Jude's in the St. Philip's area of Bristol (1849) and St. Michael's , Kingswood (1848).
Exterior Description
The church of St. John, Clifton, was built at a time when the ecclesiological movement was hardly beginning to make itself felt in Bristol (although in the same year Dyer built the majority of Christ Church, Clifton, not far away, in a reasonably correct Early English), and the local architects on the whole were still unshakably wedded to the old archaeologically incorrect gothic which consisted more of Gothic details applied to a classical body.
The external aspect of the church is made unforgettable by the twin western turrets. These, standing upon square bases projecting at the corners of west front, are octagonal in shape and evidently derived from such local examples as Rickman's church of Holy Trinity, St. Philip's (1829), although they lack the papery elegance of Rickman's design. The square lower parts, indeed, are rather bulky, of two storeys divided by a string course externally and with entrance doors under two-centred arches in the west face, and two-light windows in the outer walls facing north and south. The upper stages have pairs of extremely narrow lancets in the west, north and south faces and terminate with solid unembattled parapets with crockettedpinnacles at the corners and in the middle of each side. The corners are strengthened by angle buttresses which terminate at this level. The octagonal turrets are of Perpendicular inspiration, like St. Helen's or All Saints, York, and have two tiers of narrow cusped openings separated by slender buttresses up the angles. The tops are finished with minature battlements with a lively carved grotesque head in each bay below. The lower part of the northern turret is provided with louvres and houses a single bell. The square section is completely empty, but the counterpart on the south houses the stair to the gallery. The west front of the church between the towers is quite simple, with a two centred doorway in the middle and a plain window above it.
The flanking walls of the nave each have four tall transomed windows (suggesting that there was perhaps originally a gallery along each wall inside the building) with three cinquefoiled lights above and below and simple intersecting tracery in the heads of each. At the stops of the hood-moulds are carved animal, human and grotesque heads of remarkably mediaeval character. The bays are divided by buttresses and the wall head is finished with a continuous embattled parapet.
The transepts project far enough north and south for each to have a window in the west face similar to those in the nave walls, while the north and south gabled walls (also capped by an embattled parapet) have tall four-light windows with panel tracery above a doorway lavishly designed in late Perpendicular style with a crocketted ogee arch above the opening terminatingin a bold finial. At each side slender vertical pinnacles rise above large stops carved as winged angels. The corners of the transepts have thin angle buttresses.
Of the chancel there is little to say externally save that its style is in general more definitely intended to represent a mediaeval building than that of the rest of the fabric. The east wall has a wide five-light window with panel tracery and the north and south walls are provided with paired lights, rather tall, half filled with tracery and with pinnacles set at 45 degrees on corbels between the lights. The organ chamber has a blind east wall and a three-light window in the north wall, and the vestries are of little interest.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
1861
East window: Christ flanked by the Four Evangelists, with five scenes from the Life of Christ below.
Stained Glass
1867
South chancel window: two lights, showing Christ the Good Shepherd and Christ the Saviour.
Stained Glass
c.1924
North transept north window: figure of Pusey, Wesley, Bishop Butler and Keble.
Stained Glass
c.1892
North transept east window: The Presentation in the Temple and Christ among the Doctors.
Stained Glass
1912
South transept east window: Christ consigninghis people to the care of St. Peter
Stained Glass
South transept south window: four lights showing The Good Samaritan and other deeds of charity, commemorating deaths in 1855 and 1864.
Stained Glass
South transept west: The Nativity, Christ with the Children, The Marriage at Cana, The Resurrection.
Stained Glass
1900
South nave I: Christ with the Children and Christ the Good Shepherd, 1900 by P.W. Comm.
Stained Glass
South nave IV: Only half a window, being cut in two by the gallery; Christ with the Children.
Interior
Interior Description
The interior is large, spacious and well lit. It is also, as a consequence, rather cool in spirit, with plastered off-white walls and uniform rows of pine open benches. The alleys are paved with black and red quarries and the most remarkable feature is the construction of the nave roof. This is of exposed timber with the principals at each bay and the intermediate tie-beams all of the design and carried on stone corbels carved alternately with foliage and with angels bearing shields. The tie-beams span the church and carry queen-posts between which are struts arched to meet in the centre. In the spandrels thus formed are pierced decorative tracery panels, alternately a wheel of six spokes and a series of four small quatrefoils within a circle. The triangular spaces between the tie-beams and the slope of the roof are filled with graded trefoil-headed panels. Towards the east end of the nave wide arches open into the transepts, of which the south is seated like the nave and the north forms a Lady Chapel. These arches are moulded with attached shafts and seem later in date than the chancel arch. The latter is a four-centred arch of Perpendicular Gothick shape and evidently forms part of the original building, presumably having once opened into a small chancel recess either rectangular or apsidal as was usual with churches of this type. Above it is a quatrefoil which appears to ventilate the chancel roof space.
The chancel floor is slightly higher than that of the nave, and the difference is further marked by a low stone wall which at the north end is joined to the pulpit. Both these features, like the reredos, have been painted white. Just in front of the chancel arch to the south, opposite the pulpit and rather cramped by the lectern, is a secondary altar against the east nave wall below a wallpainting of c.1900 which represents The Transfiguration.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
The altar is a plain oak table with extensions fitted at each end to make it the same width as the reredos.
Altar
The altar in the Lady Chapel is arranged in the English style with riddelposts and curtains.
Reredos
1861
The reredos is of stone, painted white, and has five gabled niches containing carved representationsof the Agnus Dei adored by censing angels. Some details are carried out in alabaster, and the whole appears to be contemporary with the rebuilt chancel (i.e.1861).
Pulpit
The pulpit is octagonal, also of stone with alabaster colonettes and with niches in each face containing statues of Christ and angels bearing shields with Alpha and Omega.
Lectern
1896
Brass eagle.
Font (object)
Octagonal, in the Perpendicular style with panels containing symbols in quatrefoils round the bowl.
Churchyard
Grid reference: ST 574 745
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | N/A |
| Solar Thermal Panels | N/A |
| Biomass | N/A |
| Wind Turbine | N/A |
| Air Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ev Charging | N/A |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
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