Description

1188/0/10132

AYLSHAM ROAD
Church of St Catherine

21-AUG-06

GV
II*
Church. 1933-35. By A.D.R Caröe and A.P Robinson. Grey-purple and buff-brown brick with blue-grey pantile roof with blank parapets. Plan of chancel, low crossing tower, transepts, and nave with north and south vestries and porches.

A subtle combination of elemental Romanesque and modern styles with tall narrow square-headed windows. Chancel has a broken-pointed east window and a tall window to each side, then there is a saddleback-roofed tower oversailing the projecting transepts. These again have tall windows and the tower has narrow louvred openings, those to east and west a group of five following the line of the gable. The nave has five tall windows to each side set in panels framed by thin buttresses and a projecting blank parapet. Small vestry and porch projections with carefully designed shallow planes of brickwork and ornamental doors. The west end has a monumental arch between two tower elements with a seven-light window within, following the arch and set over the bowed projection of the baptistery. The whole exterior displays a finely considered employment of the two shades of brick. The west end faces the church hall (q.v.), symmetrically placed opposite it, and with which it forms a group.

INTERIOR: the whole ensemble is particularly fine. Giant semi-circular head concrete transverse arches project at intervals along the nave wall and separate the side spaces which are like side-chapels. Arches in the sides of these spaces form narrow chapel aisles. The nave roof between the giant arches is divided into blue-painted panels and the wooden cornice has finely carved gilded letters forming an inscription. Below in the centre of each bay is a finely carved bracket holding an elaborate metalwork lantern. The chancel arch is also round-arched and has a pair of finely carved canted pulpits with back panels and elaborate testers backing onto its piers. The chancel east window has stained glass which sails above a very elaborate carved reredos in late Gothic style of white marble with a granite frame and with centre panels of the Nativity, Crucifixion and Supper at Emmaus with figures in high relief. Below is the finely carved wooden altar in similar style with Renaissance details. There are very finely carved choir stalls in the same style with the choir balcony above on the north side and a set of organ pipes on the south both again with fine carving. The west gallery has a carved front and is supported on wooden square piers. Underneath is the baptistery with a finely carved stone font with carved figures in high relief, part bowl on a pedestal but four sides continuing to the ground with high relief figures in miniature niches. The whole stands on an octagonal stepped plinth. Behind is the wide bow window with five stained glass windows.

HISTORY: the interior of this church is a masterly composition contrasting the austere structural lines with the elaborate late Gothic and Renaissance style fittings. The darker nave leads to the lighter and higher chancel. It shows the interwar interest in Southern European styles but may also reflect the ideas expressed by Sir Ninian Comper at the time of 'unity by inclusion', that is the combining of Gothic and Classical elements to make a compelling whole, and by current ideas of having a wider nave with the altar more united with the body of the church and clearly the focal point.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: church of 1933-35 by A.D.R. Caröe and A.P Robinson. Of clear special architectural interest for its fusion of Romanesque and modern styles; its powerful interior; its impressive detailing; and its overall monumentality.

Sources:
Information from Oliver Caroe, via Norwich City Council.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17531435

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.

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