The Church of Christ the Cornerstone

The Worship Area

The Worship Area is central to the building. It is a magnificent space used not only for worship but also for concerts and conferences. Light and airy, it combines a sense of dignity with possibilities for informality. It can seat over 400 people at ground floor level and more on the first balcony. There is disabled access to this and all other parts of the building.

Within the sanctuary area are an altar table and pulpit / lectern of rosa porrino granite, quarried in north west Spain, shaped in Italy to a design by PDD Architects and finished in Torquay. The altar table weighs 2 tonnes and the pulpit / lectern just under 1 tonne. In spite of their weight both altar table and pulpit can be moved easily with the aid of compressed air in a method similar to the way a hovercraft lifts off the ground. To the left of the altar table is a paschal candlestick in pewter, the work of Toby Russell, a London metal designer.

Behind the dais is the baptistry, an ever-present reminder of our entry into the Christian church through baptism. A channel links two fonts and provides a metre wide cascade into the baptistry pool. The whole is lined with polished granite. Linking the baptistry with the stained glass collar beneath the dome is an etched glass cross, the work of Diane Radford and Lindsey Ball. The circle behind the cross is of gold leaf. The pillars supporting the roof are finished in Italian terrazzo to complement the granite of the sanctuary area.

The organ is a 2-manual and pedal model built by J.W. Walker & Sons Ltd of Norfolk in 1966. Originally owned by the Royal College of Organists, the organ was purchased from the college in 1991 and restored and rebuilt here by Walkers in 1992.

We leave the Worship Area by the double doors to the right of the sanctuary area (the doors open outwards), crossing the Cloister and enter the Guildhall by the doors immediately opposite.