Description

BRIDGWATER

ST2936NE ST MARY STREET
736-1/11/183 (South side)
24/03/50 Baptist Church

GV II*

Baptist church. 1837. By Edwin Down; galleries added 1870s;
partly refitted and extended to the rear c1902. Bath stone
ashlar with stucco recess and slate roof. Rectangular plan
with schoolrooms to rear. Classical style.
Single-storey; symmetrical 2-window range. A pediment over a
dentilled cornice spans the facade; it is supported by
full-height Ionic columns flanking the deeply recessed centre
which has Egyptian-style tapered 2-panel double doors with 2
panels above, set in a moulded architrave with cornice; dated
plaque above and smaller doors to sides of recess. The outer
bays are each flanked by Tuscan antae and have a semicircular
arched window with small panes, moulded architrave and
panelled apron above banded rustication. A moulded
string-course below the apron continues round central recess.
The moulding to base of columns continues round the building
as a plinth. Steps up to central range are flanked by c1837
cast-iron lamp standards with rope-pattern moulding on
octagonal bases and with C20 lamps.
INTERIOR: the church room is virtually complete, rear rooms
are being remodelled (1991). A richly moulded cornice to the
coved and panelled ceiling continues round a recess to the
north end which is curved at the inner corners.
Organ, at gallery level, is flanked by paired Corinthian
pilasters. Pulpit below is Classical style. The base has 3
semicircular arches with moulded archivolts and fluted
keystones over shallow fluted recesses; the central, larger
recess has 3 brackets to support projecting panel above; this
upper part has 4 moulded semicircular arches, the central 2
project, resting on vase columns. To each side the pulpit
stairs curve backward, with square fluted newels and thick
vertical moulding to stick balusters.
Gallery to sides and south end has a moulded wooden rail over
cast-iron trellised panels of leaves, coved beneath to rest on
cast-iron capitals with acanthus capitals. Gallery is steeply
raked with original numbered wooden pews; clock on south wall
reads "Rossiter Bridgwater".
Ground floor has wooden pews and c1902 tongued-and-grooved
panelling below dado-rail, pairs of double doors to north and
south ends may also be c1902; these are 2-panel, leaded panes
to top with narrow coloured margins and brass pull handles.
The 3 windows to each side reach from just above dado to
cornice, they have thin wooden glazing bars and circular
opening panels at gallery level. Entrance hall is C20.
(Stell C: Non-conformist Chapels and Meeting-Houses in SW
England: London: 1991-: 167-9; VCH: Somerset: London: 1992-).

Listing NGR: ST2979436922

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17553481

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

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas