Description

PORTSMOUTH

SU6300 EDINBURGH ROAD
774-1/8/11 (North side)
10/01/53 Cathedral Church of St John the
Evangelist

II

Roman Catholic cathedral. 1877-81 by J Crawley; 1881-96 by J
Hansom; 1906 by Canon Alexander Scoles; restored following
bomb damage 1945-50; re-ordered 1971. Red brick in Flemish
bond with Portland stone dressings; plain tile roof. Decorated
style.
PLAN: 6-bay nave with clerestory; 6-bay aisles, western bays
canted, north aisle with apsidal chapel (1925) new baptistry;
west portal and 2 bell turrets (1906); crossing with transepts
(1886); chancel with apse, north and south chapels, and south
porch (1893).
EXTERIOR: offset plinth; strings; eaves bands; gableted
buttresses with offsets rising into gableted and crocketed
finials; traceried windows, mostly of 2-lights with 3-light
windows to clerestory and some spherical triangle windows, all
having hoodmoulds and sill strings (tracery of all but south
transept window restored 1945-50); board doors with decorative
iron hinges in pointed-arched surrounds of several orders with
carved tympana; brick parapet to nave, pierced ashlar parapet
to chancel, similar blind parapet to baptistry; cross finials.
West end: portal has elaborate central door in projecting
gableted surround flanked by 3-light windows: a door to each
return; nave has tripled 2-light windows, stepped spherical
triangle over, flanked by octagonal bell towers with slit
windows, louvred belfry openings, spires, and metal finials.
South transept has a blind arcade below round window with
spherical triangle to gable. 5-light window to north transept.
Decorative metal gate in front of chancel south door.
INTERIOR: pointed arched arcades and openings having clustered
columns with decorative leafy capitals. Vaulted wooden
ceilings with moulded ribs, pierced bands, and cusped trusses;
plainer roofs to aisles. Good quality fittings include marble
altar and reredos to Lady Chapel, tessellated chapel floors
and free standing stations of the cross.
(Balfour A: Portsmouth: Highgate Hill, N19: 1970-: 57, 58;
Lloyd DW: Buildings of Portsmouth and its Environs:
Portsmouth: 1974-: 129, 130; The Buildings of England: Pevsner
N & Lloyd DW: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight: Harmondsworth:
1973-: 431, 432; Hubbuck R: Portsmouth: 1969-1976: 21; Offord
J: Church, Chapels and Places of Worship on Portsea Island:

Southsea: 1989-: 102, 103, 104).

Listing NGR: SU6610802158

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Cathedral of St John the Evangelist at Wikipedia
• Cathedral of St John the Evangelist official website
• Wikidata Q1137795

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

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)