St Augustine of Canterbury, Even Swindon
St Augustine of Canterbury, Even Swindon
St Augustine of Canterbury is a Grade II parish church on Summers Street in Even Swindon (Rodbourne), Swindon, Wiltshire, in the Diocese of Bristol. It was built to serve railway families working at the Great Western Railway Works.
- Location
- Even Swindon, Wiltshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Wiltshire
- City / town
- Even Swindon
- Address
- Summers Street, Even Swindon, Wiltshire, SN2 2HA
- Postcode
- SN2 2HA
- Built
- 1907
- Consecrated
- 25 January 1908
- Architect
- W A H Masters
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Augustine
- Diocese
- Bristol
- Parish
- St Augustine, Even Swindon
- Grade
- II
- Style
- Neo-Romanesque basilica
- Materials
- Red brick with interlocking red tile roof
- Grid reference
- SU 138 853
- Opening hours
- The church is always open on a Saturday morning from 9.30am to 11.30am and usually an hour before all services. The church can be opened upon request.
- Access
- Non-accessible toilets in church. Level access throughout. Accessible toilets in church
Overview
Historic England records an Anglican parish church of 1907 by W. A. H. Masters: red brick with an interlocking red tile roof, a nave and polygonal apse, north vestry and bellcote, and a south-west porch, in a North European Romanesque manner. Round-headed lancets sit between short pilasters, with triple lancets in shallow brick arches and a brick corbel table. The apse has Lombardic arcading. The interior is a wide six-bay nave expressed as wall arcades, with pilasters carrying an open double-purlin roof on bracketed queen posts. A raised choir is enclosed by wrought-iron railings. The limestone font is arcaded in Romanesque style with ten personified virtues.
Wikipedia and the parish history add that the foundation stone was laid on 13 April 1907 and the church consecrated on 25 January 1908. Parishioners paid for the bricks. A shortfall meant that planned side aisles, porches, a full bell tower and further chapels were never built. It is one of few basilica-plan churches in the south of England. The listing calls it a successful design.