- St Matthew's Church, Little Lever
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St Matthew's Church, Little Lever 
St Matthew's Church, Little Lever, from the southwestLocation in Greater Manchester
St Matthew's Church, Little LeverCoordinates: 53°33′46″N 2°22′25″W / 53.5628°N 2.3735°W OS grid reference SD 754 074 Location Little Lever, Bolton,
Greater ManchesterCountry England Denomination Anglican Website St Matthew, Little Lever History Dedication Saint Matthew Architecture Status Parish church Functional status Active Heritage designation Grade II Designated 9 May 2003 Architect(s) E. G. Paley Architectural type Church Style Gothic Revival Completed 1865 Specifications Materials Coursed rubble stone with ashlar dressings
Slate roofsAdministration Parish St. Matthew, Little Lever Deanery Bolton Archdeaconry Bolton Diocese Manchester Province York Clergy Vicar(s) Fr. John Wiseman Assistant priest Fr. Ian Anthony Laity Churchwarden(s) Mark Brocklebank, Lynn Donnely St Matthew's Church, Little Lever, is in the village of Little Lever, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Bolton, the archdeaconry of Bolton, and the diocese of Manchester.[1] St Matthew's has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.[2]
Contents
History
St Matthew's was built in 1865 to replace an earlier church built in 1791 on the other side of the street. It was designed by the Lancaster architect E. G. Paley. The tower was increased in height in 1924 as a memorial to the First World War.[3]
Architecture
Exterior
The church is constructed in coursed rubble stone with ashlar dressings, and a has slate roofs. Its architectural style is early Decorated. The plan consists of a nave, north and south transepts, a west porch, a chancel, a north vestry, and a tower at the southeast corner. The tower is in four stages, with a stair turret in its southeast corner. The bell openings have two lights and louvres. In the stair turret there are small lancet windows. At the summit of the tower is a plain parapet and corner pinnacles. Along the walls of the nave are two-light windows separated by buttresses. At the west end are large buttresses, a gabled porch, and a rose window. On the south wall of the chancel is a small three-light window, and on the north side, over the vestry, are two lancet windows. At the east end is a three-light window containing plate tracery. On the gable ends are finials.[2]
Interior
In the chancel is a stone reredos, with stone panels containing the Ten Commandments and the Creed on each side, and a double sedilia. The choir stalls, organ front and screen are elaborately carved. The chancel is floored with Minton tiles. At the west end is a gallery, under which is a glazed screen.[2] The pulpit and font are both "heavy stone tubs".[3] The three-manual organ was built in 1884 by Brindley and Foster, and enlarged by the same firm in 1911.[4]
See also
- List of churches in Greater Manchester
- List of ecclesiastical works by E. G. Paley
References
- ^ St. Matthew, Little Lever, Church of England, http://www.achurchnearyou.com/little-lever-st-matthew/, retrieved 6 June 2011
- ^ a b c "Church of St Matthew, Bolton", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1391096, retrieved 6 June 2011
- ^ a b Hartwell, Clare; Hyde, Matthew; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2004), Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 248, ISBN 0-300-10583-5
- ^ Lancashire (Manchester, Greater), Lever, Little, St. Matthew, Church Street (N00810), British Institute of Organ Studies, http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N00810, retrieved 6 June 2011
Categories:- Church of England churches in Greater Manchester
- Anglican Diocese of Manchester
- Grade II listed churches
- Grade II listed buildings in Greater Manchester
- Gothic Revival architecture in England
- Religious buildings completed in 1865
- 19th-century Anglican church buildings
- Buildings and structures completed in 1924
- E. G. Paley buildings
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