Rising above the parish of Whitehall

Image: © Neil Owen Taken: 2 Feb 2022

St Ambrose's church is a large and imposing sight, rising above St George's Park and dominating the local landscape. It is a fairly new church: in the late nineteenth century moves were made to gather some of the expanding suburban population. In 1905 a smaller hall and mission church was established (see Image]) but this became too small shortly thereafter. With funds raised a new church was established, with the foundation stone dated 1912 and the consecration taking place on November 13th, 1913. The architects were W.V. and A.R. Gough, who chose to use a mixture of Perpendicular and Arts and Crafts styles. The tower has a grand and unusual appearance, with embattled turrets and stepped battlemented parapets; it is also unusual in that it is sited to the south-east of the south aisle. See Image To the left of shot are the modern flats that are the St John's almshouses. The original almshouses were part of St John-on-the-Wall in the city centre, but moved to this place in 1906.

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