St Peter's Church, Mawdesley

St Peter's Church, Mawdesley
St Peter's Church, Mawdesley, from the west
St Peter's Church, Mawdesley Location in the Borough of Chorley
Coordinates: 53°37′25″N 2°46′24″W / 53.6236°N 2.7732°W
OS grid reference	SD 489,143
Location	Church Lane, Mawdesley, Lancashire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Peter Mawdesley
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	30 January 1987
Architect(s)	Edmund Sharpe, Peter Balmer, Richard Knill Freeman
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1839
Completed	1892
Specifications
Materials	Sandstone, slate roof
Administration
Parish	St Peter, Mawdesley
Deanery	Chorley
Archdeaconry	Blackburn
Diocese	Blackburn
Province	York
Clergy
Rector	Revd David J. Reynolds
Laity
Reader(s)	Bill O'Neill, Derek Swann, John Raynor, Mrs Janet Maggs
Organist(s)	Mrs Margaret Smith
Churchwarden(s)	Brian Kay, Bob Gordon

St Peter's Church is in High Street in the village of Mawdesley, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Chorley, the archdeaconry of Blackburn, and the diocese of Blackburn.^[1] The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.^[2]

History

St Peter's was designed in 1838, and built in 1839–40 to a design by the Lancaster architect Edmund Sharpe. Its estimated cost in 1839 was £950 (equivalent to £80,000 in 2015).^[3] The land was given by Sir Thomas D. Hesketh. When first built, the church had seating for 400 people.^[4] The chancel was added in 1878–79 by Peter Balmer, an architect from Ormskirk, and in 1892 the church was restored by Richard Knill Freeman.^[5]

Architecture

The church is constructed in sandstone with a slate roof. Its plan consists of a five-bay nave, a chancel, and a slender west tower that is partly embraced by the nave. The westernmost bay of the nave on the north side is gabled and contains lancet windows; its counterpart on the south has an arched doorway. The other bays are separated by buttresses and each contains a tall square-headed two-light window. The east window has five lights and is in Perpendicular style. The tower has diagonal buttresses. Its first stage is tall and originally had open arches on each side; these have been filled in and incorporate windows and a west door. Above is a single-light louvred bell-opening on each face, then a stepped parapet with crocketted pinnacles. It is surmounted by a slender octagonal spire. Inside the church is a west gallery supported by two cast iron columns.^[2] The organ was built in about 1900 by Wilkinson and Son of Kendal.^[6] The church is similar in design to the nearby Church of St John the Baptist, Bretherton designed by Sharpe at about the same time.^[2][5]

External features

The churchyard contains the war graves of three soldiers of World War I, and an airman of World War II.^[7]

See also

• Listed buildings in Mawdesley
• List of architectural works by Edmund Sharpe

References

1. St Peter, Mawdesley w Bispham, Church of England, retrieved 9 April 2010
2. Historic England, "Church of St Peter, Mawdesley (1072501)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 28 May 2012
3. UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Gregory Clark (2016), "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)" MeasuringWorth.
4. Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon: English Heritage, p. 211, ISBN 978-1-84802-049-8
5. Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) [1969], Lancashire: North, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 449, ISBN 978-0-300-12667-9
6. Lancashire, Mawdesley – St Peter, British Institute of Organ Studies, retrieved 9 April 2010
7. MAWDESLEY (ST. PETER) CHURCHYARD, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, retrieved 15 February 2013