Water Lane URC, Bishop's Stortford
Water Lane URC, Bishop's Stortford
The Water Lane United Reformed Church is a Grade II former Congregational church on the south-west side of Water Lane, Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire. The fellowship dates from 1662 and joined the United Reformed Church in 1972.
- Location
- Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Hertfordshire
- City / town
- Bishop's Stortford
- Address
- Water Lane, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, CM23 2JZ
- Postcode
- CM23 2JZ
- Built
- 1860; formerly Congregational
- Architect
- Poulton and Woodman
- Denomination
- United Reformed Church
- Grade
- II
- Style
- Romanesque with Italianate details
- Materials
- Yellow stock brick with Bath stone dressings; slate roof
- Grid reference
- TL 487 215
- Opening hours
- The church may be accessed when the office is open, usually Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings from 9am to 12noon. Please ring for an appointment.
- Access
- Accessible toilets nearby. Level access to the main areas
Overview
Historic England records a church of 1860 by Poulton and Woodman. The fabric is yellow stock brick with Bath stone dressings and a slate roof, of two storeys, in Romanesque style with Italianate details. The plan is a double apse. The south front has two projecting towers with pierced parapets, flanking a single-storey three-arched loggia. The towers have rusticated arches and stone plate tracery; the main block has continuous triplets of round-headed lancets on both floors.
The interior has a segmental roof with plain cast-iron beams and double galleries on three sides: the lower on spiralled cast-iron columns, the upper on wrought-iron brackets with an elaborate cast-iron balcony. A large organ and pulpit stand on the centre of the north side. Pevsner called it an imposing building in the open area east of North Street.