Description

CULMSTOCK PRESCOTT
ST 01 SE
9/61 Prescott Baptist Chapel
-
5.4.66
GV II*
Baptist church. According to an inscription painted onto the front porch the
original chapel built in 1715, was rebuilt in 1785 and renovated in 1892. Some
furniture from the original chapel is incorporated. Plastered stone rubble; slate
roof.
Plan: chapel on a north-south axis. Entrance through south end into an entrance
lobby under the rear gallery. Gallery round 3 sides and pulpit on fourth side
against the north end wall. Baptistry in floor in front of pulpit.
Exterior: the entrance (south) front has a symmetrical front. Although the window
frames and doors date from 1892 the openings are original. Wide central doorway
contains panelled double doors behind a late C19 timber gabled porch. It is flanked
by round-headed windows and there is another above; all contain 3 round-headed
lights. Another similar each side towards the north end and the north has 4
windows, the middle two higher than the outer ones. The latter windows contain
patterns of translucent leaded glass. The exterior plaster is lightly incised as
ashlar. The roof is gable-ended.
Good Interior: it is aisled by rows of octagonal oak posts which support the
gallery fronts and rise to support an arcade plate which is boxed in with a moulded
cornice. A segmental plaster barrel vault spans the centre and there are half
vaults either side over the galleries. The galleries have fielded panel fronts.
The baptistry has rounded ends and steps down from the west side. Early C18
communion table with turned legs. The pulpit is late C19 except for the ornate
back-board which dates from 1785. The ground floor benches are late C19 but those
in the galleries are C18 and some have been reused from the early C18 chapel. A
couple of old graffitis are dated 1719 and 1721. Ornate wrought bootscrapes of
1785.
The 1892 renovation retained a great deal of the 1785 chapel. As Stell reports "the
interior remains a notable example of unusally elaborate country craftmansnip".
Source: C. Stell Inventory of Non-Conformist Chapels RCHM, (forthcoming).

Listing NGR: ST0913514328

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17548209

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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