Church Micro 6685...Gosberton Risegate

The Parish Church of St. Gilbert & St. Hugh

The Grade II listed church of St Gilbert and St Hugh in Gosberton Clough, Lincolnshire, was designed by the renowned ecclesiastical architect Sir Ninian Comper and his brother-in-law William Bucknall.

Since its completion in 1903 the church has survived relatively unaltered and bears many Comper details. The original windows, with their external ironwork, would no doubt have been made in Comper's own workshop. The church bell, at the East end of the timber-framed section of the building, bears the strawberry motif used by Comper. A feature of the church is a typical Comper altar, with winged angels and fabric sides and back. Later, Comper provided the parish with the stained glass East window dedicated to the memory of the fallen of World War I. This window also bears the strawberry motif.

The building itself is a church of two parts. The nave is constructed of five 10 x 4 inch oak goal-post frames sitting on an oak sole plate of similar crosssection size, and tied together at eaves level with an oak wall plate. The central three frames are braced to resist lateral forces. External walls are formed with intermediate oak framing, infilled with panels of brickwork, rendered externally and plastered internally.

The scissor-braced roof structure, which is supported directly on the goal-post frames, has rafters at a very close spacing of 300mm. This substantial roof structure was needed to support the Collyweston stone slate roof. Collyweston stone slate roofing on a timber-framed building is an unusual combination. The chancel is a much more traditional construction in gothic revival style with rendered brickwork walls, cut stone window surrounds with direct glazed stained glass, and a Collyweston stone slate roof to match the nave.

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