Building MPM634 - CHURCH OF ST AGATHA

Anglican Church built 1894-95. Designed by John Henry Ball. The church closed in 1954 and much of the interior decoration was subsequently removed or destroyed, and the Lady Chapel demolished. Sgraffito work by Heywood Sumner survives in the apse behind the high altar. Restored during the 1990s, the building is now functioning as a Church once again.

Anglican Church designed by John Henry Ball in the Romanesque Basilica style. Consecrated in 1895, with much of the interior decoration completed several years later. The building of the Church was instigated by Father Robert Radclyffe Dolling, priest at a nearby Mission Church, who also raised the funds to build it. The church was High Anglican/Anglo Catholic.

The interior of the church was highly decorative and included sgraffito work by Heywood Sumner, mosaics, marbles, and a baldachino (erected 1904). Many of these ornate features have since been lost or destroyed. Surviving decoration includes Sgraffito work depicting the Majestas and Old and New Testament Saints in the apse behind the high altar, and a fragment of the Nativity above the arch to the former Lady Chapel.

The Church was closed in 1954, and the Lady Chapel was later demolished to allow the construction of a new road. The building was for a time used as a Royal Navy ship's store. Restoration work was carried out during the 1990s by Hampshire County Council's Architect's department. The building is now functioning as a Church once again as a member of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, practising Anglican Patrimony.

Historic England, The National Heritage List for England (Index). SPM35.

Offord, J, 1989, Churches, Chapels and Places of Worship on Portsea Island (Bibliographic reference). SPM39.