NPRN13104
Map ReferenceST38NW
Grid ReferenceST3279087435
Unitary (Local) AuthorityNewport
Old CountyMonmouthshire
CommunityLiswerry
Type Of SiteMISSION CHURCH
Period20th Century
DescriptionSt Philip's church is located on the north-west side of Jenkins Street close to its junction with Corporation Road. It originated as a Mission Church to satisfy the immediate needs of a growing congregation in the area in the 1920s. An appeal was launched for funds to build a Sunday School close to Corporation Road School (as St Andrews School, opposite, was then known). In July 1925, the new building was opened, serving as parish hall and Sunday School. After serving in this capacity for 25 years the building was, in July 1950, elevated to the status of a church (though still within the parish of St Andrew) and dedicated to St Philip, apostle and martyr.
The church, probably designed by architect J.Coates Carter, was built on a T-plan for dual use as church and hall with no architectural distinction between the two uses. The materials used are uncoursed, irregular pieces of ironstone for the walls, pantiles on the steeply sloping roofs, and red brick and tile to form the windows with a few blocks of stone. The windows are chevron-headed, in close-set groups of three; those on the south side facing the road are under and between a pair of gables while those on the north are in a more developed group of five. Further elaboration in their patterning is achieved with leading. Inside, the roof trusses of the church part have collar-beams and kingposts which form crosses above the tie-beams. The entire building is seen as an example of how the resourceful use of materials can of itself create interest and beauty in the Arts and Crafts manner.
Sources:
http://www.bassalegbenefice.org/page7.htm
J.Newman, Buildings of Wales: Gwent/Monmouthshire (2000), p.432.
Ordnance Survey County Series 25-inch map: sheet Monmouthshire XXXIV.1, edition of 1937.
David Leighton, RCAHMW, 13 February 2015