Description

LYNTON AND LYNMOUTH

SS7149 LEE ROAD, Lynton
858-1/4/25 (South side)
United Reformed Church

II

United Reformed Church, formerly Congregational. 1904. For Sir
George Newnes, patron, at cost of £1,500. Snecked rubble,
limestone ashlar dressings, tile roof. A single 4-bay nave,
with vestry to SW, and squat tower above porch to the NE; the
church is set gable to Lee Road.
An Arts and Crafts building with Art Nouveau overtones. The
main gable has decorative timber-framing with cusping, and a
brattished bottom 'tie', with plastered panels, above a
5-light window with transom and flat segmental head with
decorative spandrels; the lights are cusped. The gable eaves
has a cusped barge-board and a small finial. To the left,
brought forward, is a gabled porch with similar barge-board,
over a pair of plank doors in a segmental moulded arch.
Set back behind this is the tower, square, with corner turrets
and sunk lancet panels, with an undulating crenellated parapet
above blind 'Perpendicular' panelling, and a 2-light casement
with transom. The pyramidal roof has a lead finial. The E side
of the tower has a 3-light casement. The right (W) return is
in 4 bays, with 3-light casements with transom, cusped lights
under a flat segmental arch, and small-pane leading, divided
by square buttresses with 2 offsets, but diagonal at the gable
end.
To the right is the gabled vestry, set forward towards the
street, with decorative barge-board and timber-framing
containing a 5-light timber casement. The S gable is plain,
with a small ridge stack, and with an attached low apse with
conical roof, and a diagonal buttress to the right corner. The
E side has four 3-lights and buttresses, as the W. The deep
eaves carries the original cast-iron ogee gutter.
INTERIOR: 4 arched-braced collar trusses with decorative
square baluster kingposts. Plastered walls, panelled dado,
plain glass. A central octagonal pulpit with Art Nouveau
carved decoration, flanked by rails and a platform on 2 steps.
There was formerly an organ in the apsidal recess. An austere
interior to a simple but dignified exterior.
The building is another example of the generosity of Sir
George Newnes as patron in the town, and is similar in style
to the Town Hall (qv); an inscribed stone reads: 'Erected by
Sir George Newnes. Dedicated August 23rd 1904'.
(Allen NV: Churches and Chapels of Exmoor: Dulverton: 1974-:
63).

Listing NGR: SS7177349399

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26569308

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

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2