Church Heritage Record 603013

West tower. North-west vestry. 5-bay galleried nave. Screen at west end of nave. 3-bay chancel with north organ chamber (former vicar’s vestry).

Nave estimated to be c 25m x 12.5m (81 ft 6” x 41ft), chancel 9m x 7.8m (30ft x 25ft 9”)

The site is noted in the Conservation Area Appraisal as a site of archaeological interest recorded by the Lancashire Sites and Monuments Record.

Archaeological databases mark several features in proximity to the church including Aspen Colliery, a Scheduled Ancient Monument, located to the SW. The site includes the upstanding remains of engine beds and capped mineshafts, with 24 brick ad stone beehive coking ovens. Also, to the south-east the site of the Pre C15th Lower Antley Mansion. Also weaving mills.

There were 17th-century weaver’s cottages to the south of the church, now replaced by 20th-century terraces.

It is reputed that a wooden church stood on the site since 642. There was certainly a chapel here by 1296 and the tower, though dates are various, is commonly dated 1284 and is the oldest structure in Church.

The churchyard is heavily buried on all sides. There are C18th century stones visible.

A sundial, now lost, is recorded in the church history booklet.

Church grew rapidly during the industrialisation of East Lancashire textile towns in the 19th century. The canal (arrived 1807-8) was central to its growth with mills, works, warehouses and wharves developing along its banks. The inventor of the spinning Jenny, James Hargreaves, was a local man and Church was involved in the development of calico printing in the late C18th and early C19th and associated industries of bleach, chemicals dyes, soap and engraving. The East Lancashire Railway arrived in Church in 1848.

The history of the church is complex and at times confused, with different dates given for various phases. Nearby Accrington has Saxon origins, and is unusual in that it was still held at the time of the Domesday Book (1086) by a Saxon Thegn, Leowine. There was a grange here of Kirkstall Abbey till the Reformation. Church Kirk claims a yet older ancestry, tracing its origins to a supposed camp-over by St Oswald, King of Northumbria, during which legend has it he founded a wooden church on this site in 642 before marching off to his death in battle at Oswestry.  There was apparently a well at the east end of the churchyard traditionally known as St Oswald’s well. Until the Reformation the church had an altar dedicated to St Oswald. It may also be noted that nearby Oswaltwistle traditionally owes its name to this Saint.

Whatever the historical truth behind this belief (the date 642 is given in the QIR and DAC report), it is possible that there is an earlier church under the present one. It is also possible that the church, then a chapel, is one of those mentioned in the area in Domesday, but this is unproved.  The place-name Chirche appears first at the end of the 12th century by which time there was a manor house here, a minister is recorded from 1220. The settlement developed slowly through the medieval period, and was always part of Whalley parish, from the 13th century to the Reformation under the Abbey there, as opposed to Accrington under Kirkstall Abbey.  A date of 1284 is traditionally maintained for the construction of the tower, there are references to repairs in 1335 and 1545 and again in 1763, the architectural details are Perpendicular and of the 15th or early 16th century.

The rest of the church has been completely rebuilt in two main phases. The nave was rebuilt in 1804, an identical date to the rebuild of Accrington St James, which is similar in appearance and history. The north-west vestry was added in 1806. The tower was restored in 1844 with pinnacles added. The chancel was built in 1869 (or perhaps 1879), and rebuilt with a vicar’s vestry in 1895-6 (now the organ chamber). The chapel became a parish church in 1866 as Church Kirk rapidly expanded.  A general reordering and redecoration took place in 1881, when nave benches and other furniture by the local carpenter’s firm Pilkingtons was introduced. The nave window tracery is probably also by them. The architects involved were the local Waddington’s practice.

An explosion at a nearby factory c.1915/16 caused much damage to the south side, destroying the stained glass windows. The tower was repaired following a fire c.1982, with a new ring of bells to replace those cracked in the fire.

The site is located within the Church Canalside Conservation Area. There are trees along the south boundary.

The embattled 4-stage south-west tower is constructed from massive stone blocks. Corner pinnacles shown in 19th-century photographs have been lost. Some gargoyles. It is built of uncoursed roughly-hewn blocks of weathered golden sandstone, which exudes a raw antiquity and contrasts strongly with the smooth coursing of the nave and chancel.  It has diagonal (west) and angle (east) buttresses, and dripcourses above and below the belfry. There is a low rectangular west door with moulded jambs and lintel and a gabled hoodmould. Above this is a blocked 3-light Perpendicular window also with a gabled hoodmould.  There are similar but smaller openings to 3 sides of the belfry (clock on south side), and various small single-light openings to light the stairs.

The nave is a long block with a low-pitched roof. The stone is laid in water-shot style, a regional technique to aid evaporation of moisture from the stone, and giving a sawtooth profile. Ventillation gaps at base. The nave has two tiers of round-headed windows with dressed window surrounds and imposts and keystones, containing later 2-light ogival-headed wooden tracery; reminiscent of the tracery at Accrington St James. Many of the windows protected by grates or polycarbonate. There is a doorway in the south wall in the western bay with a segmental arched head and hoodmould with carved headstops. Another discrete doorway is located on the east elevation of the nave in the south-east corner. There is a lean-to vestry on the north side of the tower with a 3-light in the north wall with a transom, pointed lights within a square frame, blind depressed arch above. Diagonal buttress of two weatherings and raised coping.

The chancel contrasts in style with the nave. It is narrower, rock-faced, and the roof is lower but much more steeply pitched. Stone cross finial above east gable. The south wall has buttresses of two weatherings between three pointed arched 2-light Decorated tracery windows with hoodmoulds. There is a similar 5-light in the east wall, which is articulated with blind ogee arches to the shoulders and a decorated cill band under the window. Plinth below. There is only a single 2-light window in the north wall with hoodmould and foliate stops. The elevation is mostly taken up by a projecting blocky windowless vestry with a hipped roof, which awkwardly wraps around the chancel and nave.

The tower is only accessible from the external west tower door. From within it the tower arch can be seen, blocked with bricks, broad and pointed, clearly late medieval.

The interior of the church divides into three parts, the vestibule/narthex, nave and chancel. The vestibule is divided from the nave by a partly glazed oak Gothic screen, installed as a war memorial, and is situated beneath the west end of the gallery.  The west wall is blind and plastered over. The vestibule contains an old, probably late medieval chest and an ancient bell, see below. A pair of reflected staircases against the west wall provide access to the gallery which extends around 3 sides. Black and red quarry tiles pave the floor with metal grates along the centre, north-south.

East of the vestibule is the nave with a 3-sided painted wood gallery with traceried panels, carried on octagonal iron columns with panelled faces (painted white) and decorated capitals. Raked ceilings to north and south aisles, beneath the galleries. Walls plastered and painted though still exposed in large areas where repairs were made some time ago. Flat and panelled ceiling with suspended lights in the centre. Panelled benches with varied carved tracery on the ends.  There are fine dark-stained bench pews on raised pew platforms in the nave and in the galleries, with moulded and carved ends. A row of pews has been removed at the east end and the pew frontals (with attached buttress detail) replaced. Tiled aisles (red and black quarries) with carpet at the west end and some metal grates. Altar at east end of north aisle. Glazed timber lobby in south-east corner around door. Windows mostly clear rectangular panes, some coloured glass in upper lights.

The chancel arch is of two plain orders, the inner taken down to consoles. The pulpit is raised on a stone platform beneath to the north side with the priest’s desk on the opposite side. The chancel is High Victorian with a painted ribbed wooden barrel vault roof in the mirroring position. A fine figurative mosaic reredos across the east wall and a huge stained glass window above provide a colourful focus. There is one step to the chancel and one further to the sanctuary, with mosaic floors with borders and red carpet in the sanctuary. A brass plaque records the laying of the pavement within the chancel dedicated to Rocco Camozza in 1895.  The choir stalls and other furniture is of good quality with oak panels and carved ends.  There is a large arch in the north wall with the organ chamber, the pipes are exposed.