Description

BRISTOL

ST5972 VICTORIA STREET 901-1/42/337 (East side) 08/01/59 Temple Church, remains

GV II*

Formerly known as: Temple Church, Church of the Holy Cross VICTORIA STREET. Also known as: Holy Cross Church VICTORIA STREET. Church. c1400, upper stage of tower 1460, gutted c1940. Bath stone ashlar, and Pennant rubble with ashlar dressings, to an open shell without roof or glass. PLAN: aisled, unclerestoreyed nave, chancel with chapels, and SW tower. Perpendicular Gothic style, with a Somerset-type tower. EXTERIOR: 2-centred arched E window of 5 lights with trefoil heads, between short clasping buttresses. A low vestry attached to the NE of 3 bays, with 3-light mullion windows and a parapet, and a N door with a mullioned overlight. 3-bay chancel has 3-light windows with trefoil heads and label moulds, and buttresses at the ends. 5-bay nave with 5-light windows, drip mould and crenellated parapet; in second bay from W is a doorway with chamfered reveals, the arch breaking the line of the sill above. Similar S aisle. The W end of the N aisle has an octagonal stair turret between the N aisle and the nave, and a mid-Georgian porch to the nave with Corinthian pilasters to a segmental pediment with a cartouche inside and an urn on the top; inside is a round-arched doorway with an acanthus key. 5-stage tower to end of S aisle, divided by deep drips, with an internal stair turret in the SE corner: a low plinth, with three W niches with crocketed pinnacled hoods, beneath a 4-light window, the hoodmoulds running into the drip course; 2-light windows to the second and third stages, all blind; niches with foliate bases flank the third stage N window, triangular buttresses either side ending in attached pinnacles; at the base of the belfry is a band of triangular traceried panels; above are paired lights with mullions and transoms and ornate fretwork, separated by slender buttresses with blind panels above, the corner buttresses ending in attached pinnacles; drip with gargoyles and a blocking course; the octagonal stair turret is slightly expressed in the belfry with blind panelling. INTERIOR: column bases to a 5-bay nave, with round responds at each end; the base of the tower has a vaulted roof, entered through an arch with soffit quatrefoil-headed panels. Memorials: a finely carved memorial on the N wall of the tower forming an aedicule with a skull at the base. HISTORICAL NOTE: The church suffered bomb damage in the Second World War, and is preserved as a gutted shell; it originally had a fine unclerestoreyed nave. The lower stages of the tower leant to the W soon after completion, and the belfry slightly corrected the angle; the pinnacles were never built. (Gomme A, Jenner M and Little B: Bristol, An Architectural History: Bristol: 1979-: 59; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset and Bristol: London: 1958-: 409).

Listing NGR: ST5933572735

External Links

• Temple Church at Wikipedia
• Temple Church official website
• Wikidata Q1253118

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

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  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
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  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)