The former St Clements Congregational Church, Ipswich, Suffolk

Summary

A former Congregational Chapel built in 1887, designed by the architect William Eade.

Description

A former Congregational Chapel built in 1887, designed by the architect William Eade, in memory of Edward Grimwade, JP.

MATERIALS: red brick with slate roofs and some ashlar details.

PLAN: rectangular with a tower to the south-west corner and adjacent porch. There is a smaller rectangular area to the east end with porches either side.

EXTERIOR: the building is in a Gothic Revival style. All roofs are gabled, slate- covered and have scalloped terracotta ridge tiles, except the tower roof which is pyramid shaped and topped with a teardrop shaped stone finial. The arched door and window openings vary in shape and size but all have shaped brick voussoirs and hoodmoulds. All windows were boarded for security at the time of survey (August 2023).

The main roof is wide and shallow-pitched. The west gable end is symmetrical and contains a gothic window recess with three moulded-brick arches containing five lancets, the middle three are grouped within an arch with crazed terracotta infill and a decorative roundel. There are two full-height, staged, brick buttresses either side of the main window topped with pointed stone finials with pierced trefoils. The lower stage of the west end contains a three-light window with flanking two-light windows.

The tower is offset to the south-west with decorative brick panelling beneath the pyramid roof. On the west elevation there is a pointed arched window with a stone cill. The south elevation contains paired lancets beneath the frieze, and a doorway with a single plank door with ornate strap hinges. Immediately to the east, attached to the tower, is the south porch with its ridge perpendicular to the main building. It contains an arched recess with double doors with ornate strap hinges, below a crazed terracotta infill containing floral roundels. There are low, flanking buttresses with tumbled-in brickwork and the side elevation contains three small shallow-arched windows. The apex has the remains of a broken finial.

The rest of the south elevation is of four bays with identical sets of paired lancets with plain glass and stone cills, between staged brick buttresses with tumbled-in brickwork. The north elevation is of six bays with the same detailing as the south elevation, but the windows contain chequered stained glass in pastel colours.

The south-east east porch has its ridge on the same axis as the main roof, a double doorway containing doors with ornate strap hinges and a single window in the south elevation. To the north of this is a larger, single storey section with its ridge in line with the main building, and a gable with its ridge perpendicular to it facing south, with paired window openings. Above it is a high-level circular window. North of this range is the minister’s vestry with paired double doors and an arched side window.

INTERIOR: the interior retains its complete set of original fittings in a consistent warm-coloured wood, including doors, gallery, pews and dais. It has a false-hammer beam roof structure formed from chamfered beams with run-out stops. The timbers rest on moulded stone corbels and there are ornate hanging finials. The ceiling contains two decorative ironwork ventilation hatches.

The south-west porch is floored in original polychromatic ceramic tiles and has internal four-panel double doors with diamond paned glazing, with matching flanking glazed screens.

There are seven bays to the main chapel space, expressed by the paired lancet windows with corbels for the roof structure regularly positioned between them. The north windows contain pastel coloured squares of stained glass, the south windows are clear glass.

The chapel is oriented with the dais and pulpit towards the east end and the gallery at the west end (accessed by the external stair tower). The gallery is carried on slender cast iron columns with decorative brackets with pierced trefoils and retains its original pews. The area beneath the gallery is partitioned by a low-height panelled wood divider with a central entrance space. There was some damage to the lathe and plaster ceiling in this area at the time of inspection.

The main space between the gallery and dais contains pews arranged in nine rows in a central block facing the pulpit and rows of pews either side angled to better see the pulpit. The front three rows of pews on the north side had been detached from their fixings at the time of survey but were standing nearby.

At the east end is an elaborate dais with gothic decoration, consisting of a wide curved platform with three tiers, the top two with seating, and a central curved pulpit decorated with blind arcading. The backing screen to the dais is decorated with open arcading and extends the full width of the building, with gothic canopies over arched doorways on either side. The arched doors have diamond paned leaded lights with fleur de lys motifs and quatrefoil wooden moulding. Behind the dais there are rear flanking narrow staircases to access the pulpit. The low rail to the front of the dais is held up by decorative iron spindle posts with scrolls and gilded flowers.

The east wall contains a large, recessed blind gothic arch with a hoodmould with decorative stops, with partial remains of gilding. The blind arch contains most of an original wall painted text “BLESSED ARE THEY THAT HEAR THE WORD OF GOD AND KEEP IT” in decorative and partially gilded lettering, behind the site of the 1909 organ (removed in 2023).

The rest of the east end contains a porch leading to the “service rooms” : the minister’s vestry and a second room latterly used as a kitchen. Both rooms contain original wainscot panelling, original doors and door furniture and original built-in wall cupboards in the second room, all painted with C20 paint. Both rooms have an identical small fireplace with chamfered surround and two small decorative floral motifs. The second room contains late-C20 kitchen fittings and a late-C20 partition enclosing a toilet.

The interior is understood to be original and unaltered.

History

Non-conformist or “dissenting” Christianity can trace its origins to the C16 and was legal from 1689 with the Act of Toleration, when freedom of worship was extended to all but Roman Catholics and Unitarians. The Congregationalist movement held that congregations should be self-governing and not responsible to national governing bodies like the general synod of the Church of England. Most early non-conformist worship took place in people’s houses and other secular buildings. It was not until the C19 when there was a gradual easing of the legislation that had continued to restrict Non-conformists. Laws which excluded all but practising Anglicans from government and municipal posts were repealed in 1828-1829, and in 1871 it became illegal to debar Nonconformists from teaching or studying in English universities. After 1836 Nonconformists had the right to conduct marriage ceremonies, and in 1880 they were granted the right to conduct burial services in parish churchyards.

The wealthy Grimwade family in Ipswich, who owned a large outfitters store founded in 1844, were prominent non-conformists who hosted meetings in the upper floor offices of their premises in Cornhill Street. In 1869 they commissioned the first Congregational Chapel in Ipswich to be built on Fore Hamlet. A plaque on that building records that the building committee was Edward Grimwade, John May, Oliver Prentice and Joseph F Alexander, the architects were Messrs Cattermole and Eade, and the contractor was W C Cunnold. Within a few short years the congregation had grown too large for the original chapel, and the new chapel was commissioned to be built across the street, on Back Hamlet.

A plaque on the Congregational Church records that it is in memory of Edward Grimwade, JP, (1812 to 1886) and the memorial stone was laid by E W Grimwade of Croydon on October 20, 1887. The architect was William Eade of Ipswich (this time practising solo), and the builder was F Bennett of Ipswich. Map evidence from the Ordnance Survey (OS) map of 1904 shows that the old chapel building became used as a Sunday School.

William Eade,1840-1927, trained and practised originally in partnership with J R Cattermole and from 1877 practised alone. His works include Woodside, a mansion on Constitution Hill, Ipswich designed with Cattermole in 1872, listed at Grade II* (National Heritage List for England entry (NHLE) 1264602) and the Methodist Chapel in Yoxford, East Suffolk, designed by Eade working solo in 1888, listed at Grade II (NHLE entry 1030596) designed the year after St Clements and possibly commissioned on the strength of it. Congregationalists did not usually dedicate buildings to saints, but this area of Ipswich was known as St Clements, and the chapel was commonly referred to as St Clements as a reference to its location.

In 1972 the United Reformed Church (URC) was formed nationally from a union of the Presbyterian Church of England and the majority of churches in the Congregational Church in England and Wales. The congregation of St Clements, however, did not choose to join the URC and remained a Congregational Church.

The building continued in use for worship until it became redundant in around 2017. It was sold to new owners in October 2021. The organ, which had been built by Bishop and Son in 1909, was removed and donated to a new owner in August 2023.

Reasons for Listing

St Clements Congregational Church, Ipswich, designed by William Eade and built in 1887 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for its well-designed and thoughtfully-detailed Gothic style exterior;
* for the unusual survival of its complete church interior with high-quality bespoke fixtures and fittings including the dais and screen, gallery, pews, internal glazed doors and painted Biblical text on the east wall;
* for the design, decoration and craftsmanship inside and out which provide an important illustration of the skilled work of the Ipswich-based architect William Eade.

Historic interest:

* as a valuable illustration of the important social role played by Nonconformist churches, and of the expansion of their congregation in the C19.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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