Description

SE 7803-7903 EPWORTH HIGH STREET
(south side)

20/77 Wesley Memorial Church

GV II

Wesleyan church. 1888-9 by Charles Bell. Rock-faced ashlar, apart from
south side of yellow brick; ashlar dressings throughout. Welsh slate roof.
Aligned north-south: 4-bay nave with north entrance, 3-bay aisles, single-
bay east and west transepts and small sanctuary, square tower with octagonal
stair turret adjoining north-west angle. Adjoins school to south-east (qv).
Chamfered plinth, angle buttresses and buttresses between bays with offsets,
all with ashlar quoining. North side: flight of 5 stone steps to central
entrance with central pointed-trefoil doorway in pointed double-chamfered
arch with hoodmould and carved stops, flanked by single pointed 2-light
traceried windows with hoodmoulds and carved stops, all beneath a triple-
gabled hoodmould carried on corbelled wall shafts, with trefoil finials to
each side and taller carved finial over door attached to central mullion of
pointed 4-light plate-traceried window above, with sill string course,
hoodmould and head stops. String course and small pointed ashlar window to
gable with narrow stepped triple lancets beneath hoodmould. Coped gable
with finial. Angle buttresses to left rise to octagonal ashlar turret with
blind lancets and spirelet with finial. 3-stage tower adjoining to right:
first stage with pointed double-chamfered doorway with hoodmould and carved
stops, single trefoiled lancet above, moulded ashlar frieze with blind
roundels; splayed second stage with string course; octagonal belfry with
louvred double-chamfered lancets, foliate capitals to angles supporting
hoodmoulds; moulded string course with gargoyles to angles, and octagonal
spire with trefoiled lucarnes, ashlar quoins and flush bands, wrought-iron
finial. 2-stage west stair-turret adjoining lower stage of tower has sill
string course and 3 lancets to upper stage, half-octagonal roof. Aisles:
square-headed 3-light traceried east and west windows, pointed 2-light
traceried north window to east aisle. Transepts: pointed 3-light traceried
east and west windows with flush ashlar impost bands, hoodmoulds with carved
stops, and single needle lancets above. South side has pointed 3-light
traceried window to sanctuary. All windows with Geometric-style tracery.
Board doors with ornate wrought ironwork. Coped gables with shaped kneelers
and finials, crested ridge tiles throughout. Interior. Series of inscribed
tablets in entrance lobby includes record of architect Chas Bell, builder
H Kelsey, and laying of memorial tablets in September 1888. 4-bay nave
arcades of pointed wooden arches with pierced spandrels on slender iron
columns. North gallery. Pointed moulded sanctuary arch with corbelled
inner order and hoodmould. Ceiled roof to nave, 2-bay hammer-beam roofs to
transepts. C19 marble wall tablet in east transept to Rev John Wesley and
his parents with pediment and dove above; series of mid C19 pedimented wall
tablets in transepts by Bailey of Hull. Ornate octagonal carved wooden
pulpit and altar rails of 1860 brought from the Kilham Memorial Chapel on
the opposite side of the road (qv) in 1949. Part of an unusually ornate
group of Methodist buildings, erected in commemoration of the founder of
Methodism, John Wesley (1703-91), and the Wesley family of Epworth.
N Pevsner and J Harris, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, 1978, p 233;
Church Guide, c1980, 4pp.

Listing NGR: SE7811003856

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26364473

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.

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