Listed Building record MDO15642 - Church of St Ambrose, West Cliff Road, Bournemouth

1898-1900, C Hodgson Fowler. Big church of Perpendicular style proportions and Decorated style tracery, all in smooth golden ashlar with greenish slate roof. 4-storey north-west porch-tower added 1907-8: traceried panelling with gablet over door, paired 2-light belfry windows with transom, panelled battlements, polygonal turrets over corner buttresses. 7-bay nave (westernmost bay very short) 2-light aisle windows, 3-light clerestory, arcades with quatrefoil piers and double-chamfered arches, king-post nave roof with stone wall shafts, boarded wagon roof to chancel with criss-cross ribs between timber arch-braces. Chancel arch on foliage capitals. South chapel with 2 light traceried entrance arch and 2-bay arcade to chancel. North side of chancel has higher 3-bay blind arcade embracing clerestory, transeptal organ chamber to north, north-east vestry under separate gable. 5-light east window, other chancel windows and nave aisle windows all have glass by Burlison and Grylls, 6-light west window by Powells. Large reredos in rectangular frame by Temple Moore, 1914, Crucifixion with 3 tiers of saints. Elaborate font, also by Temple Moore, 1914: deep polygonal bowl with foliage carving on sides (8 columns), high openwork timber cover with spire. Pulpit of wrought-iron on polychromatic marble base. Rood screen of wrought iron. <2>

Church of St Ambrose, West Cliff Road. 1898-1900 by C Hodgson Fowler. Perpendicular style proportions and Decorated tracery. Plan of nave, chancel, South Chapel, Four-storey North-West porch-tower added 1907-8. Grade B. <2>

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1:2500 scale, 1974 (Map). SWX1197.

<2> DOE (HHR), 27 Feb 76, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: Borough of Bournemouth 1976, 85 (Scheduling record). SWX3488.

(SZ 0713 9086) St Ambrose's Church (NAT).

<3> Historic England, Historic England Archive, OP24478 (Index). SDO14738.

Colour-tinted view of St Ambrose's Church in Bournemouth from the south-west

<4> Historic England, Historic England Archive, OP24479 (Index). SDO14738.

A view of St Ambrose's Church in Bournemouth from the north-west

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 888547 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 29 2024 4:46PM