Church Heritage Record 609377

5-bay aisled nave with north tower and porch, shallowly projecting west baptistery, 3-bay chancel with south organ chamber and vestry, north chapel, hall in the western part of the nave.

Nave approximately 25m (85ft) by 11m (36ft), chancel 8m (25ft).

The church was built in 1891-93, the architects being Preston & Vaughan, who were prolific in the Stockport and Manchester area. A terracotta plaque under the east window records that the foundation stone was laid by Thomas Hardcastle Sykes in 1891.  The church was considered for redundancy in 1974, and the CCC produced a short report on the building at that time which suggested that the church was not without quality and at least part of the building might be kept.

Subsequent to this major reordering was undertaken involving the removal of pews throughout, the partitioning of the western four bays of the nave with a plain full height brick wall to form a basketball court sized hall with toilets and kitchens behind a screen across the north aisle.  This was funded by the sale of the church hall and other assets, the idea being to provide a single focus for church and community activity, which had limited success.

The church happens upon you at the end of the lane, set broadside to the lane and the entrance. The bell turret and porch are placed on the “show” side of the church, visible as one enters the churchyard.  These features are not visible from the road, and the church has limited townscape impact. The chosen style is Perpendicular, with some Arts-and-Crafts touches, producing an overall Tudor feel. 

The church is long and low with the exception of the tower, really more of a turret, set on the north side in the angle of chapel and nave. This has a cusped doorway at the bottom, rectangular slit stair lights, and slim clasping buttresses with gablets which terminate under the timber-framed belfry.  This is jettied slightly out with gablets or rectangular louvred openings to alternate faces, the effect no doubt meant to remind us of the fine Cheshire tradition of Tudor and Jacobean timber-framed houses and indeed churches. A small broach spirelet tops it off.

The large north-east porch is a major component of the building on its show side, also with black timber framing with strong Arts-and-Crafts timberwork to the gable, complementing the belfry.  The glazed side windows have depressed ogee heads, and the porch forms an attractive entrance to the building, although now it issues into the hall.

The nave is slightly higher than the chancel with lean-to aisle roofs, no clearstorey, shouldered gables with gablets throughout. The north chancel aisle is under a steeply pitched separate roof, making the building appear very narrow and longitudinal, not convincingly balanced by the turret.  The organ chamber and vestry project as a transept from the south side of the chancel. Gables are shouldered with gablets.

The tracery is all in the Late Perpendicular style, and of terracotta. The west wall has a large 5-light above the low shallow baptistery, the cusped windows of which have been bricked up.  Flanking this are two small pointed 2-lights low in the aisle walls.  The nave has 3-light pointed windows to each bay between buttresses of two weatherings, one of which in the north wall appears to have been cleanly removed, suggesting they were added later. Diagonal buttresses to the corners. The south chapel has 2-light cusped windows with square heads to each bay and a 3-light pointed east window, the chancel has a 5-light pointed east window and 2-light windows with transoms in the sanctuary side walls. The foundation stone of terracotta is set beneath the east window, below a row of shields again in terracotta.

The interior is faced with yellow stock brick and again terracotta is used liberally, the octagonal nave piers and the responds to the chancel being clad in this material.  The partition wall to the hall is of red brick and plain. This, the greater part of the church, is brimming with children’s play equipment and other items, but is clearly now mainly used for storage. The intricate open arch-braced timber roofs are one of the strongest points of the interior, but do not appear very prominent in the current arrangement.

The only part used for worship is the chancel, clearly now rarely used, and the north chapel.  Two rows of plain pews have been retained at the west end.  The chancel is raised on four steps and the eastern wall is wood-panelled to the cill of the window. Entrance to the north chapel is through a tall double arch, a cusped doorway gives access to the vestry in the sanctuary south wall. Adjacent to this to the east is a double cusped ogee-headed piscina.  The organ pipes are displayed on the south side, wooden panelling defines the organ chamber and vestry behind to the north and west.  Adjacent to the west of this a baptistery has been formed around the font. The floors are quarry tiles with encaustic tiles used as borders in the sanctuary, linoleum in the hall.