St Ives Free Church
St Ives Free Church
St Ives Free Church (United Reformed) stands on Market Hill, St Ives, Cambridgeshire, a Grade II Gothic Revival chapel of 1863 by John Tarring, facing the market place and the statue of Oliver Cromwell.
- Location
- St Ives, Cambridgeshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Cambridgeshire
- City / town
- St Ives
- Address
- Market Hill, St Ives, Cambridgeshire, PE27 5AL
- Postcode
- PE27 5AL
- Built
- 1863–64; interior modernised 1980
- Architect
- John Tarring
- Denomination
- United Reformed Church
- Dedication
- Ives
- Grade
- II
- Style
- Decorated Gothic Revival
- Materials
- Stone frontage to Market Hill; cast-iron arcade columns
- Grid reference
- TL 3139 7120
- Opening hours
- The church is open Monday to Saturday from 9.30am to 4.30pm. The FairTrade shop is open during these hours and the cafe is open 9.45am to 2.00pm (3.30pm on Saturday).
- Access
- Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby
Overview
The congregation traces a nonconformist history in the town back to the Cromwellian period. The present building, listed as 1863 by Tarring, has a double-fronted stone façade with a central broached steeple, nave, aisles and an apsed south end, in Decorated style with three-light geometrical windows. The listing notes a plain interior with thin cast-iron columns. The church was modernised in 1980 and now includes a Fairtrade shop and café, while remaining a United Reformed place of worship. It forms a listed group with neighbouring Market Hill buildings.
Historic England listed the Free Church Grade II on 8 February 1971 (list entry 1310003; amended 24 March 1972). There is no diocese or Church of England parish.