Burslem United Reformed Church
The United Reformed Church is a church on Moorland Road in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. It is a Grade II listed building, completed in 1906. It was originally a Congregational church.
History
The first Congregational meetings in Burslem were in about 1819, in the house of a Mr Bailey. In 1825 they leased Zoar Chapel, in Princes Row, Nile Street, built for the Methodist New Connexion in 1798, and they purchased it in 1828. It was used until 1838, when Queen Street Church was opened, a brick building seating 400.It was replaced by the present building, erected in 1905 to 1906 and seating 550. It was designed by Absalom Reade Wood. He had an architect's practice in Tunstall, and designed buildings in the town including Tunstall Town Hall and the Queen Victoria Jubilee Buildings. He also designed Burslem School of Art. The church was originally called the Woodall Memorial Congregational Church, after William Woodall, a Congregationalist, local M.P. and leader of the women's suffrage group in the House of Commons. He had encouraged the building of a Congregational church in the town.
Description
The front facing the road is of red brick and sandstone: there are square stone columns with stone finials, and between them is a large central window, with a Romanesque round arch, and smaller windows either side. To the right there is a four-storey bell tower, which has a copper-domed roof and a finial.Below the central window there is a decorated stone tablet, inscribed "Woodall Memorial Congregational Church", bearing a bronze relief of William Woodall by Stanley Thorogood, an artist, potter and teacher of art.
Inside, the congregation space has a raised stage to the south, where there is oak choir seating and oak panelling. At the north end is a gallery. There is a barrel-vaulted ceiling.