Nominal: 1230 Hz Weight: 389 lbs Diameter: 25.93" Bell 1 of 1
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1928
Dove Bell ID: 55072 Tower ID: 20727 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
St Anselm Hayes
Overview
Grid reference: TQ 97 796
The style coalesces traditional features such as brick structural walling, gothic nave arcades and gothic window forms and tracery. With a rectilinear massing which is undoubtedly of its period. Although it has no tower, the building has a prominent place in the townscape by its sheer scale in comparison with the humble shops and houses which surround it.
Visiting and facilities
Building is open for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Nave and chancel in one, of three wide bays, with a narrower bay at each end; aisles with western porches; vestries to the south of the chancel.
Dimensions:
Nave and chancel together 111½ft by 25ft; aisles each 9½ft wide.
Description of Archaeology and History
By H. C. Corlette, 1926-8. A mission room (now part of the public library) was built in the 1870’s and an iron church was erected on the present site in about 1910. Plans dated 9 December 1912 were prepared by Nicholson and Corlette (now in the RIBA Drawings Collection) but nothing was done about a permanent church until long after the First World War had ended. The foundation stone was laid on 13 May 1927 by the Rt Hon Lord Justice Bankes, chairman of the London Diocesan Fund, and the church cost £13,440.
Exterior Description
The style coalesces traditional features such as brick structural walling, gothic nave arcades and gothic window forms and tracery. With a rectilinear massing which is undoubtedly of its period. Although it has no tower, the building has a prominent place in the townscape by its sheer scale in comparison with the humble shops and houses which surround it.
The plan is basically an extremely simple one in which all subsidiary elements are subordinate to the considerable bulk of the rectangle forming the nave and the chancel. This is arranged symmetrically about both axes, with three very wide central bays which are marked externally by the tall two-light windows in the aisle walls, and narrower bays at each end beyond which the nave and chancel project a little further than the aisles. This gives a convenient niche at the west end for a porch each side of the nave gable, while a low vestry wing flanks the south wall of the chancel.
The west elevation of the nave has a big three-light window with ogee-headed main lights and intersecting tracery and a hood composed of tiles. The window is set within a thickening of the wall which terminates at the top in a series of steps of differing profiles. The pitch of the roof is rather low and there is a stone cross at the apex.
The aisle walls are set back from the nave, and each has a single-light window with tracery in the head above an ogee cusped arch. These again are set in thickenings of the wall which step back near the wall head. The flat roofs of the aisles are concealed by straight parapets capped with pantiles which return along the side walls for the whole length of the aisles. Below the windows are small porches with basket arches over the doors, that on the north are normally kept open with a locked glazed inner door so that people can see into the church but not walk into it.
The considerable length of the church is accentuated by the prominent pantiled continuous parapet and by the use of English bond which emphasises the horizontal courses of the brickwork, but vertical elements are provided by thickenings of the wall round each window rather like that at the west window and by lightly indicated crosses, one tall Latin cross and four small Greek crosses, formed with brickwork diaper in the wall areas between the windows. At the base of these bays are old areas of rendered walling, and at the top, above the crosses, is a single small window.
Above the aisle roof the nave has an eaves cornice with dentils formed within the brickwork. The east window is of three lights and generally similar to the west window, though with different tracery patterns, and the large gabled bell-cote for a single bell rises above the south-east angle of the south aisle parapet. The low rectilinear vestry has no features of special architectural interest. There is a doorway in the west wall like those of the western porches, in the south wall are two two-light windows and in the east wall is a second doorway and a small window.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
1952
East window. depicting Christ the King flanked by The Virgin Mary and St Anselm. By Powell of Whitefriars.
Stained Glass
1956
North aisle east. One light, depicting The Virgin and Child in a vesica, by Goddard and Gibbs.
Stained Glass
1964
West window. Conjunction of different images. By Goddard and Gibbs
Building Materials
Brick
Unknown
Clipsham Stone
Unknown
Nave pillars
Delabole Slate
Unknown
Nave and chancel roofs
Interior
Interior Description
The interior wall surfaces are also of exposed warm buff stock brick, and the simplicity of the architecture stresses the considerable scale of the building. The large scale of the nave arcades and the continuous painted roof which runs from end to end of nave and chancel again emphasise the horizontal element of the building. The floor is paved with greenish terrazza with some areas of wood blocks.
The arcades have octagonal stone pillars with simply moulded capitals for each of the three large bays. The brick arches have three orders of hollow chamfers and the responds of the smaller arches at each end are simply half-pillars of the same design. A dado is provided by areas of brighter red brick rising to sill level of the windows (which is higher in the nave than in the aisles), and the windows of the aisles are centred in the middle of each arch of the arcades. The tiny windows set high in the aisle walls opposite each nave pillar are repeated more frequently in the clearstorey, but they are clearly not intended to admit much light.
The roof is of the same design throughout, that is to say that each bay has three equal principals supported by straight braces rising from stone corbels. Between the principals is wooden panelling. The differentiation of the parts of the building is indicated by painted decoration executed by Macdonald Gill. Throughout the beams are decorated with a chevron design which looks three-dimensional from the ground but is probably trompe d'oeil. Along the wall-plates are texts in large letters. The panels are generally painted blue but there are also three groups of symbols stencilled on the roof.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
Unknown
Modern table on two wedge shaped uprights of black slate, one of which is lightly incised with the image of a deer grazing, with gilded lines
Reredos
Unknown
Banners hanging in a shallow recess below the east window
Pulpit
Unknown
The pulpit designed by Corlette. It is of oak, square in plan with canted corners and a vine trail frieze and linenfold panels.
Font (object)
Unknown
Square stone bowl with a moulded lower edge and incised with the invocation to the Trinity, set on a moulded base. Smaller circular cover with three scrolls carrying a cross, of 1971, in a complementary style.
Organ (object)
1860
Located in a small gallery at the east end of the south aisle. By W J Haywood
Bells
Churchyard
Grid reference: TQ 97 796
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 | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
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
Quinquennial Inspections
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