St Saviour's Church - Markhouse Road, London, UK
N 51° 34.416 W 000° 01.744
30U E 705867 N 5717797
St Saviour's Anglican church was built in 1874 to the designs of T F Dolman. The Grade II listed building, that was ravaged by fire in 1945, is still used for worship today by the Church of England.
Waymark Code: WM124XF
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 02/28/2020
Views: 0
St Saviour's church website tells us:
The church is built in the ‘Gothic’ style which means it would have looked new in the late 1200s and deliberately old fashioned by 1874. Thus it is very much in keeping with the Tractarian inclinations of Richard Foster and John Knowles.Many other churches from this period therefore used the late 13thcentury for inspiration. In an industrial age this meant that many of the architectural details could be cut into the stone by machine thus making for much shorter building times. Had a church of this size been built in the 13thcentury it would have taken many decades; in fact the foundation stone was laid on 10thJune 1873 with the completed building being ready for consecration on 4thNovember 1874. All the stone was brought by rail to sidings at Lea Bridge station and then along to the site by horse and cart.Often genuine medieval Gothic buildingsinvolved mixing two different stones; a grey masonry being rough hewn and a lighter smooth stone for facing details. Unusually St. Saviour’s uses four different types of stone. Externally the rougher stone is Kentish ragstone with the detailing being in Tisbury stone. Internally Hassock (a kind of ragstone) is used to line the walls with all the dressings and detailing ofthe arches etc being in Bath stone. A feature of Gothic architecture is the use of pointed arches which carry the divide and carry the weight of the main walls and roof through their columns. The nave (the main body of the church) is built of five arcades supported by quatrefoil (ie 4-faced) piers of stone. They give a rather grand impression, although there is a rather clinical lack of relieving detail.
As mentioned, the church is Grade II listed with the entry at the Historic England website advising:
Church. 1874. By T F Dolman. Squared coursed rubblestone; asbestos slates to roof. Geometrical style. Five-bay nave, aisles, clerestory; full-height chancel with polygonal apse; tower to north-west corner, of three stages with octagonal stair turret and broach spire. Interior has richly moulded pointed arcades supported by piers with applied shafts. Two-light windows to clerestory set within blind arcading with detached shafts. Three lancets to west end. Three-light central window to east end. Roof replaced at lower pitch after fire in 1945. Furnishings include C19 font, pulpit and reredos.