Description

WARE TOWN

TL3514SE NEW ROAD 829-1/9/153 (East side) 14/03/74 Christ Church

GV II

Anglican church. Constructed 1858-59 to serve new parish east of New Road. Architect Nehemiah Edward Stevens of Tunbridge Wells, contractor Dove Bros., Islington. Kentish Ragstone squared coursed rubble, with Bath stone dressings and windows, Welsh slated roof. PLAN: chancel, south chapel, nave, north and south aisles, north porch under tower with spire, and projecting south porch. EXTERIOR: in Early English style, with walls divided into bays by projecting buttresses with paired lancet windows between; triple lancet east and west windows. 3 bay chancel, single lancet windows in each bay. Nave and aisles separately roofed, presenting triple gables to west elevation with central nave projecting as a single shallow bay. North aisle flanked by tower, with tall lancet arches on ground floor to give access to north porch. Arches glazed in with screen early 1980s. Angle buttresses with 4 stages of offsets. Single lancet to tower room, with twin lancets to belfry above, with louvres. Lombard frieze at eaves of tower, with broach spire constructed of ashlar ragstone. Lucarnes with cusped heads on each main face, with cusped openings in each diagonal face above. INTERIOR has Ware yellow stock brick walls. Chancel with triple light east window, with glass by Martin Travers, installed 1948 to replace glass destroyed by bombing in 1940: circular sexfoiled window above contains 1883 glass which survived. Grey and white marble floor. Oak communion table, panels behind and reredos are a memorial to men of the parish killed in World War I. On north wall is a memorial tablet to Robert Hanbury (1796-1884) of Poles, north of Ware, who paid for the construction of the church, schools, mission hall and vicarage. Chancel arch rests on corbels with stiff leaf ornament. Brick nave arcade 7 bays, with red arches, supported on circular Bath stone columns with roll moulded capitals. At east and west ends of nave, arcade supported on corbelled responds with carved still leaf ornament. Nave lit by dormer windows concealed in valley between nave and aisle roofs. Nave and aisles have simplified hammerbeam roofs, carried on moulded stone corbels, with plastered ceilings. Aisle windows paired lancets, glazed with Hartleys quarries with coloured borders, with long cusped heads in stone surrounds beneath raised segmental brick arches. Polished limestone font, a concave sided octagonal bowl on a pedestal, stands in east end of north aisle. Christ Church was consecrated by the Bishop of Rochester on 9th November, 1858, but the tower was not completed until the following year. Although built to house a full peal, there is a single 3cwt bell, founded in Whitechapel in 1859. East of the church Christ Church School was founded in 1860, to its left stands the Henry Page Memorial Hall, built 1895. Neither of these are of special interest and are not included. (Edwards E and Perman D: Ware's Past In Pictures: Ware: 1991-: 122; Heath C: The Book of Ware. A Portrait of the Town: Chesham: 1977-: 77-8, 81, 88-9; Lavender S: Churches, Chapels and Faiths of Ware: Ware: 1989-: 14; The Victoria History of the County of Hertford: London: 1912-: 382, 394; Cussans JE: History of Hertfordshire: London: 1870-1873: 155-6; Wang A: Christ Church Ware. A History: Ware: 1985-; Wang A: A Short History and Guide to Christ Church Ware: Ware: 1993-).

Listing NGR: TL3599514386

External Links

• Christ Church Ware at Wikipedia
• Christ Church Ware official website
• Wikidata Q5108831

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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  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
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  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)