St John the Baptist's Church, Bretherton

St John the Baptist's Church, Bretherton

St John the Baptist's Church, Bretherton, from the south
St John the Baptist's Church, Bretherton
Location in the Borough of Chorley
Coordinates: 53°40′40″N 2°47′42″W / 53.6777°N 2.7951°W / 53.6777; -2.7951
OS grid reference SD 476,204
Location Bretherton, Lancashire
Country England
Denomination Anglican
Website St John the Baptist, Bretherton
History
Founded 1839
Dedication St John the Baptist
Consecrated July 1840
Architecture
Status Parish church
Functional status Active
Heritage designation Grade II
Designated 30 January 1987
Architect(s) Edmund Sharpe
Austin and Paley
Architectural type Church
Style Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking 1839
Completed 1909
Construction cost £1,058 (£90,000 in 2015)
Specifications
Materials Sandstone, slate roofs
Administration
Parish Bretherton
Deanery Chorley
Archdeaconry Blackburn
Diocese Blackburn
Province York
Clergy
Rector Revd D. J. Reynolds
Laity
Reader(s) Miss J. Maggs, Stanley Hazlewood
Organist(s) Mrs Lesley Moulton
Churchwarden(s) John Hart, Sheila Williams

St John the Baptist's Church is in the village of Bretherton, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Chorley, the archdeaconry of Blackburn and the diocese of Blackburn. Its benefice is united with that of St Michael and All Angels, Croston.[1] The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.[2] It was a Commissioners' church, having received a grant towards its construction from the Church Building Commission.[3]

History

St John's was a Commissioners' church costing £1,058 (equivalent to £90,000 in 2015).[4] The Church Building Commission contributed £250 towards its cost.[3] It was designed by the Lancaster architect Edmund Sharpe and built in 1839–40.[5] The land was given by George Arthur Legh Keck. The church provided seating for 400 people.[3] In July 1840 it was consecrated by Rt Revd John Bird Sumner, at that time the Bishop of Chester.[5] The church was restored in 1898 by Sharpe's successors Austin and Paley,[6] who also added a chancel and vestry in 1908–09.[7] In September 2009 the church was damaged by fire caused by an arsonist.[8]

Architecture

The church is constructed in sandstone with slate roofs. Its plan consists of a five-bay nave incorporating a south porch, and a two-bay chancel under a higher roof. The style of the nave is "simple Gothic", while that of the chancel is Perpendicular. At the west end is a slender tower, the lowest stage of which constitutes a porch that is open on three sides. Above this are three string courses, the top one of which is stepped over the bell opening. At the corners are buttresses that rise to form crocketted pinnacles. At the top of the tower between the pinnacles is a stepped parapet. A slim octagonal spire rises from the tower. The porch has an arched doorway over which is a lancet window. Its top is gabled and has a cross finial. The east window has five lights and Perpendicular tracery. Inside the church is a west gallery supported on four slim iron columns.[2] The two-manual organ was built by Ainscough Organ Builders of Preston in 1929, and rebuilt and extended by David Wells of Liverpool in 2000.[9]

External features

The churchyard contains the war grave of a Loyal Regiment soldier of World War I.[10]

See also

Gallery

References

Citations

Sources

  • Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon: English Heritage, ISBN 978-1-84802-049-8 
  • Hughes, John M. (2010), Edmund Sharpe: Man of Lancaster, John M. Hughes 
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