Church Heritage Record 603055

Nave with west balcony and narthex beneath. Chancel and sanctuary under one roof, with flat-roofed vestry and boiler room to north side. Bell turret above north-east corner.

[Approximate] Nave 14 m (46 ft) x 9 m (30 ft)

Burnley was industrialised in the 19th century and there are cotton mill and brewery buildings within a kilometre of the site. Rosegrove station, on the Accrington and Colne Railway, opened to the north of the site in 1897.

An ICBS application records the approval of a grant for a new church to replace a tin mission church between 1957-64. The tin church had been established as a daughter church to All Saints and stood on a different site. Land and a substantial fund is understood to have been provided by the local cotton manufacturing family, the Dugdales, and was topped up by local donations. Taylor Young and Partners architects were commissioned to design the church and a foundation stone was laid next to the west door by the Bishop of Blackburn in 1962. William Cecil Young had taken on the partnership following Isaac Taylor’s death in 1948. The practice also designed the nearby crematorium in 1957-8.

The archaeological potential of the site is low. There are no known designations relating to the ecology of the plot, though it contains mature cherry trees along the west boundary.

Fairly simple, quite austere building of functional design. The west end rises higher than the nave to create more of a street presence and to greet those approaching from the road. It has a separate hipped roof with a stone cross finial and a circular window in the apex. Centrally placed glazed wood double doors are beneath a low concrete lintel framed by raised brickwork to form a portal effect around it. A ramp has been formed to ease the step up into the porch.

The nave and chancel are beneath a single pitched roof, the sanctuary slightly narrower than the rest of the building. The windows are placed high in the walls. The north elevation has flat-roofed projections extending north from the east end containing the vestries and the boiler room. Above it is a tall but simple open brick bell-turret containing a single bell. The brick work encompasses the chimney from the boiler house. A door on the west side of the vestry has six steps rising up to it. The boiler house is smaller and has barbed wire on the roof. The east elevation is plain with a crucifix attached.

The nave is accessed through glazed wood doors from the west. These enter into a narthex with tiled floor and low flat ceiling. Small rooms off the space contain toilets or are used for storage. A second set of glazed doors accesses the nave. The narthex sits beneath a west balcony, accessed by steps in the south-west corner of the nave. It is largely used for storage but has fixed tiered benches. The front of the gallery, overlooking the nave, is wood-panelled.

The main body of the church is a simple room. It is full of natural light due to the absence of any stained glass and is ceiled by a flat plastered ceiling with raised concrete ribs/trusses marking the bays. It is painted dark blue. The brick walls are painted white, with recesses beneath the nave windows extending to the floor, also painted dark blue. A level floor is paved in granwood tiles with carpet up the aisles and wood chairs providing seating on either side. Original light-fittings with five suspended bulbs remain in place, though some additional spotlights have been fitted. The east end of the nave is floored in concrete and a door in the north wall accesses the vestries.

The chancel contrasts with the rest of the building by the use of smaller windows and by the rise in floor level of two steps. Oak choir stalls with frontals are fitted to either side. Facing the nave, a pulpit and lectern are built into the woodwork, in the style of ambones. An organ is positioned north of the choir, beneath a square-headed opening.

The sanctuary is slightly narrower in width and is raised by another step; the floor is of marble (reconstituted?). The windows are longer than in the nave. Wide, round-headed recesses sink into the walls on either side and a consecration cross is placed within the north wall.