High Street URC

The layout was conceived by Caleb Archer, and adopted by Edward Sharman, for whom Archer worked.

The church is a Grade II* listed building with a number of interesting structural features. Built using rusticated lias, with ashlar dressings, it has a very attractive appearance. It is a single storey building with a gallery.

The entrance front has a two storey gabled porch with pointed arched opening and pairs of detached columns with foliated capital. A three light window can be seen above with rounded and cusped tracery.

The main body of the church to either side of the porch is two storey with piers of pointed head windows at each level separated by detached columns with foliated capitals and buttresses between each window pair. Elevations to the left and right of the entrance front have gabled porches of one and a half storeys with arched entrances facing the entrance front. There are porches to the rear sides of the building giving easy access to the two vestries. The roof has the shape of a truncated cone with central cast iron railings around large iron ventilator chimneys and there are cast iron gates at road level and front porch level. All the windows are stained glass. The building with its solid porch side doors and imposing central war memorial is situated in a well maintained walled garden of flower beds and trees, some of which have preservation orders on them.

The inside of the building is as impressive in shape and architecture as the outside of the building and is frequently commended for its excellent acoustics, and its high ceiling. Cast iron columns support the generous sized gallery with its original serpentine pews on a sloping floor, aiding visibility.