Description

The following building shall be added:

TQ 29 SW CHURCH CLOSE

5/34 John Keble Church

II

Church. 1936, by D F Martin Smith. Concrete frame clad in stock brick; flat
concrete roofs. Nave and sanctuary in main body of church with projecting ranges
housing north and south aisles, west tower, and similar ranges surrounding
sanctuary which house vestry, offices and Lady Chapel. Modern Movement style.
3-light east window with concrete lintel over raised brick architrave and square
brick mullions framing metal casements; similar 2-light windows to sides of
one-bay sanctuary and to 3-bay nave aisles. Porches in west angles of nave
and aisles each have panelled double doors. Plain concrete coping to sanctuary
and aisles and splayed cornice to main taller body of nave. West tower has
small 2-light windows set in raised concrete architraves; west elevation has
similar 3-light window above panel, inscribed with phoenix and the name JOHN
KEBLE,which is splayed inwards above recessed bay with grid-like 20-light concrete-
framed window; flat hood above panelled double doors; louvred belfry surmounted
by mosaic copper cross and ball covered in gold leaf. Interior: white plastered
walls; sanctuary floor of cream-coloured artificial stone; fine blue and gold
mosaic panel with central dove to sanctuary ceiling; tall wrought-iron candelabra;
triple sedilia and two pulpits. Circular oak font with projecting wrought-iron
candelabra; west porch (beneath tower) is partitioned off by refined 'stripped
Perpendicular' screen with mullioned upper stage above panelled lower stage;
stairs to gallery above porch. Nave exhibits the first use in this country
of the 'Diagrid' roofing system whereby the octagonal concrete roof is filled
in by diagonally-intersecting beams with coloured ceiling boards to infill panels;
this saved 40% on normal construction costs. Its good design and cheap cost
made John Keble Church a very influential design: in 1951, Knopp-Fisher's The
Future of Church Design held it as a sensible prototype for post-war church
architecture.
(Incorporated Church Building Society, Fifty Modern Churches, 1947, pp 34-7;
Architecture Illustrated, November 1936, pp 179-181).

Listing NGR: TQ2044592094

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• John Keble Church at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q26317880

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

• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)