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Former United Reformed Church at Stoke sub Hamdon

ST4717 : United Reformed Church, Stoke Sub HamdonST4717 : Stoke sub Hamdon : United Reformed Church

Opened in 1866 as a Congregational church and designed in Decorated style by Robert C. Bennett of Weymouth (not to be confused with the better-known Manchester architect Robert Isaac Bennett). The church's open seats of stained wood could accommodate 350 persons. The tower and spire, 90 feet high, are located on the liturgical southwest (geographical southeast) corner. Pevsner, who surveyed Somerset in 1958, dismissed it as "hideous ... with its spirelet and its curly flying buttresses reaching down to the ground" but it was nevertheless listed Grade II* in 1987.

ST4717 : Stoke sub Hamdon : Village Scenery

The church closed for worship on 7th January 2017 but the building is still used by community groups. Not far away is ST4316 : David Hall, South Petherton, another former Congregational church by the same architect.