Church Heritage Record 603183

Nave and chancel, narrow aisles, transepts, west gallery, lady chapel, vestries and porches.

Nave 38m x 13m (125ft x 43 ft) aisle 1m (3.3ft) wide Transepts 3 m (10ft) wide.

There are two alternative sets of dates for the building. Diocesan sources suggest that there was an original church of 1832 which was enlarged in 1846 followed by a complete rebuild in 1889. The list description confirms that there was an earlier church but dates it slightly later at 1836. It states that the east end and transepts were built as an extension to the east end of the original church in 1878 and then the remainder was built in 1894-5. A drawing within the church dated 1836 shows a thin pinnacled west tower with a four bay nave.  There is no clear evidence of this earlier structure within the church today although some features are inconsistent with the later Victorian period. A virtually complete rebuild therefore seems probable. The Lady Chapel was added in 1913. The architect for the church was Richard Knill Freeman (1838 – 1904) who worked primarily in Manchester and Lancashire. Pevsner suggests this is his masterpiece.

Freeman has built this church on a significant scale with a particularly impressive internal space. The tower at the north west corner is of five stages with angle buttresses which fall short of the battlemented parapet. On the north side, an arched doorway leads into the base of the tower with moulded red stone dressings and a panel of blind quatrefoils above, under the initial stringcourse. Immediately above the string course in the second stage there is a very small window with two paired lights and tracery detailing.

There is a canted stair turret with pyramidal roof on the west side of the tower which reaches to the third stage. The turret has small thin lights and adjacent to the turret on the lower stage of the tower wall is another small opening. The third stage has two small single openings on the north, east and west sides (the south is not visible) the latter two high in the stage and the former lower. The tower has visible clock faces on all sides except the south which again, is obscured by the nave roof. The fifth stage has triplets of two light belfry louvres with tracery detailing.

The west front of the building has angle buttresses with gablets and three small slit openings at low level which correspond to the baptistery inside. The elevation is dominated by a large six light curvilinear window and above this to the top of the gable there is blind arcading.

The pitch of the nave roof is long, steep and continuous to the chancel. The nave has tall lean-to aisles, each with three bays of transomed two light windows under pointed arches. The south aisle has an extra bay, opposite the tower on plan, which has a porch front with a very shallow gable; there is a pointed doorway with hoodmould and above this a small three light window under a rectangular head (the glass here is from the earlier window). There is an empty niche and a cross finial to the gable; pilaster buttresses flank the porch and continue through to the transept. This aisle falls short of the west end of the nave and in the junction between the two are two windows, both of two lights but the one positioned at the west end of the aisle slightly smaller than that adjacent in the nave wall.

Both the north and south elevations have tall transepts of two gables, each has a huge four light window, with curvilinear tracery, almost to full height. On the north side, there is a doorway between the two gables which is set in a round headed arch with a detailed crocketed finial above. The clergy and choir vestries are located on the north side of the building to the east of the transepts. The clergy vestry is adjacent to the transept and is of two storeys with a pyramidal roof. That vestry has a squat three light window under a wide pointed arch on the north side, the same is found on the west and east faces of the single storey, flat roofed choir vestry to the east. There is an external entrance to the choir vestry at the east end and this is through a round arched door which looks as though it may correspond with the earlier church building.

Beyond the transept on the south aisle is the Lady Chapel which has two south facing windows each of two lights; the chapel has a small projecting sanctuary area with small high windows to the north and south and a three light window to the east, set in a low shouldered gable. The main east window of the chancel is of five lights with curvilinear tracery including a large central rosette. 

The internal space within the building is vast and the quality and quantity of the stained glass, particularly in the south transept is striking. The nave has a high thin pointed arcade without capitals which passes across the transepts; the arcade is joined to the outer walls by two-storey small strainer arches which create narrow ambulatories and short transverse tunnel vaults.

The west end has a gallery with wooden panelling with access via the base of the tower. Below the gallery is a screened area for the baptistery.  The roof of the nave is a pointed wooden tunnel with ornate hammer beams in the form of angels. The quality of the roof contrasts with the walls of the nave which have been plastered and painted to resemble stone.

The chancel arch is lower than the nave and the stained glass in the east window is of good quality; the chancel roof is rib vaulted in wood. The chancel is flanked by two low narrow arches creating mini aisles on either side of it, each with a small single light in the east wall. The north side gives access to the organ and to the vestries while the south side leads to the lady chapel. There are two taller wider three-centred arches which connect the transepts to the organ chamber and the lady chapel. Arcading within the chancel is open to the south and contains the organ to the north.

The sanctuary of the Lady Chapel is divided by a pointed arch which is decorated with square foliate blocks, the roof is panelled with cusp detailing and painted blue and white. The east window here is a three light tudor arch set within a wider rounded blind arch. There are small windows set back high in the north and south sides of the sanctuary.