Description

TL 12 SW
999/7/10003

LUTON
STOCKINGSTONE ROAD
Round Green
CHURCH OF ST CHRISTOPHER

II

Anglican church. Commenced 1936-7, completed 1959. By Sir Albert Richardson. Light brown brick, detailed in brick throughout, and with a plain tile roof covering. Linear plan, oriented north-east - south-west, with entrance front to south-west (liturgical west) end . Entrance vestibule, undivided nave, north and south aisles, with chancel and vestries added 1959.
EXTERIOR: Steeply-gabled west front with coupled single doorways with planked doors, set within wide segmental arch . Doorways are separated by a chamfered brick pillar, with a niche carrying a statue of St Christopher and the Infant Christ. Stylised wheel window to gable apex with brick tracery. Right -hand return to entrance gable incorporates integral belfry with 3 belfry lights, and a single bell. Aisles are covered by extensions to main roof pitch. North side wall with quasi-arcade of segmentally- arched bays, each with coupled and recessed 2- light mullioned windows, separated by a plain brick pier. At the junction of nave and chancel, a tall gabled vent. Within the roof pitch, and aligned with the arcade arches, hipped clerestory dormers with cross window frames, and sheet copper cheeks. South aisle replicates the detail of the north aisle but without the vent. East end with steep, wide gable with a pair of pilasters to the centre, framing the narrow, single light east window, and rising to support a shallow gabled canopy carrying a slender metal cross finial. Projecting from the east wall are copper sheet-roofed vestries with 2-light windows, and neo-Georgian doorways and canopies to north and south side walls.
INTERIOR: Entrance vestibule with stair to organ loft above, which is set within pointed-arched recess above central segmental- arched entrance into nave. Twin planked and studded doors with narrow glazed panels, with central fixed light to panel between the doors. Spacious, uncluttered nave with roof supported on wall posts and inclined secondary posts, linked by short spurs at wall plate level. Above these are arch -braced principal rafters, the braces rising to meet at, and support collar beams which themselves support strutted king posts. These composite pseudo-crucks provide a vernacular, timber- framed setting for the tall, plain pointed chancel arch, and the blind arch of the east end Within the blind arch are doorways to the 2 rear vestries. Above, east window with 1996 stained glass by Peter Archer. Contemporary furnishings include a wooden altar rail readers desks, benches and choir benches at the east end, and congregation benches at the west end, all with fielded panelled fronts. Tapered octagonal timber font with faceted cover and chevron decoration at rear of centre aisle.
HISTORY: The original design for the church included transepts and a choir , and a slender spire. Only the nave and entrance had been completed by the time of the formal opening in June 1937

Listing NGR: TL1004322744

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26656822

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)