Description

STROUD

882/5/105 ALL SAINTS ROAD
25-JUN-74 UPLANDS
CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS

I
Nave, chancel and aisles of 1907-10 by Temple Moore. Completed, to the original design, by Leslie Moore; principally the north chapel, finished 1926, and the west tower and porches, 1929-32.

MATERIALS: Coursed squared local limestone, with dressings of Minchinhampton stone. Stone and blue slate roofs, and a tiled spire. Bare ashlar interior with timber roofs.

PLAN: Two-bay nave and two-bay chancel under one roof; north aisle with transverse organ loft; south aisle and chapel; west tower with flanking porches. Schoolroom and vestries in a crypt to the south, where the ground drops away.

EXTERIOR: Built high on a constricted sloping site, dominating the setting of gardens and Victorian houses. The style is Gothic freely interpreted, with some Transitional or Early English features and some Decorated, and Flamboyant tracery, most noticeably in the large six-light west window. Sturdy tower, stepped in twice towards the top, with clasping buttresses, that at the south taller and serving as a stair turret. Square traceried bell-openings in the middle stage. Triple arcade in the tower base, with the main entrance in its centre. Lean-to flanking porches. The short tiled broach spire is not a common form for Gloucestershire. The south aisle is managed under two transverse gables (cf. Moore's contemporary design at St Margaret, Cardigan Road, Leeds) with two big four-light windows. Between them is a coped buttress, and below, a row of simple rectangular lights to the schoolroom. The south chapel is lower, allowing for two chancel lights above the chapel roof. The east wall has three windows (two, four and two lights) with Flamboyant tracery. Below, a lean-to projection strongly articulated by four buttresses with three two-light windows between, the centre one stepped up at the base to accommodate the high altar. In the north aisle, three-light windows under segmental heads.

INTERIOR: A fine interior, spacious, light and `coolly serene' (Verey and Brooks), an effect partly achieved by its clear glazing and the harmonious local stone. The base of the tower forms a high vestibule lit by the big west window. The tower arch rises to roof height, and rests on short wall shafts. The nave and chancel have an unstained timber tunnel vault with cross-ribs; and the two bays of the south aisle are roofed in the same fashion. The south chapel and north aisle have heavy beamed ceilings in dark stained timber. The composition of the east wall dominates; two tiers of three windows, the lower ones deeply recessed into the wall behind the altar. Elegant nave arcades with multi-shafted piers, the shafts facing into the nave carrying on as wall shafts to support the roof ribs. The nave arches are exceptionally broad, but the two arches on each side of the chancel narrow progressively to the east, giving a subtle sense of accelerated pace at the east end. Here too, the hoodmoulds of the arches join the piers by little cusps, an original detail. The aisles are handled differently, avoiding any tendency to rigid symmetry. The wide south aisle is roofed in two transverse tunnel vaults separated by a transverse segmental arch at the position of the external buttress. A transverse wall pierced by a smaller arch separates the south chapel. The north aisle is quite narrow, and has a lean-to roof with one transverse division, a high arch that dies into the outer wall. The organ gallery is suspended over the north aisle, without intermediate supports, allowing access to the small chapel to the east. The north aisle windows are set into heavy semicircular recesses, suggesting a church which has grown organically. Overall the inventiveness of planning is highly impressive, and representative of Temple Moore's originality.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: The simple fittings are largely original, of excellent craftsmanship, and greatly enhance the architecture. Oak sanctuary rail with pierced frieze. Elegant oak choir stalls designed by Leslie Moore and made by Peter Waals in 1929. Waals also made the Litany Desk in the north chapel, 1935. Chairs in the nave, probably original. Font with octagonal stone bowl, completely plain, the underside moulded and resting on a foot of four clustered marble shafts. Oak Pulpit with coved cornice and one long panel of Flamboyant tracery on each face.

HISTORY: Temple Lushington Moore (1856-1920) was one of the greatest architects of the late Gothic Revival. He was articled to G.G. Scott Jun., 1875-8, and worked independently from the 1880s. His greatest achievements were between the mid-1890s and the start of the First World War and are characterised by what one contemporary critic called `good proportion and sweetness of line'. His work on some 40 churches, besides restorations, forms a key bridge between Victorian and C20 church architecture. All Saints, Uplands forms a fine example of his highly individual interpretation of Gothic. The late churches `although purely Gothic, appear to have been designed with no constraint save that of his vigilant good taste' (D.N.B.). After his death in 1920, much work was continued or completed by Leslie Moore, Temple Moore's son-in-law and surviving partner in the firm; he was adept at understanding and fulfilling the original intentions, as happened at All Saints. The cabinet-maker responsible for many of the fittings, Peter Waals (1870-1937) had worked with Ernest Gimson, and was an important figure in the Cotswolds Arts and Crafts movement. It is regarded as `one of the most characteristic of all Moore's churches' (Goodhart-Rendel). Verey and Brooks praise the `exceptionally elegant' nave arcades. It is spacious and light, well-crafted, inventively asymmetrical, and makes full use of an awkward site. The slightly austere but harmonious interior is perhaps influenced in general terms by that of Hexham Abbey, where Temple Moore had worked a few years earlier.

SOURCES:
Brandwood, G., `Temple Moore: an Architect of the late Gothic Revival' (1997), 91-93
Clarke, B F L., Church Builders of the Nineteenth Century: a Study of the Gothic Revival in England 2nd. ed., (1969), 215, 257.
Verey, D and Brooks, A., The Buildings of England, Gloucestershire I: The Cotswolds (1999), 650

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
The church of All Saints, Stroud, is designated at Grade I for the following principal reasons:

* The architectural design is of very high quality, spatial subtlety and consistency, by one of the great figures of the late Gothic Revival
* The additions to the church of 1926-35 fulfil the original design
* It is complimented by largely complete fittings, to the design of the same architectural firm. Peter Waals, maker of some of the later fittings, is an important second-generation figure in the Cotswold school of Arts and Crafts furniture and church fittings

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of All Saints at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17526252

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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