Church of St Peter and St Paul, Ormskirk

Church of St Peter and St Paul, Ormskirk
Church of St Peter and St Paul

Church of St Peter and St Paul, Ormskirk is located in Lancashire
Location in Lancashire
Coordinates: 53°34′09″N 2°53′16″W / 53.5692°N 2.8877°W / 53.5692; -2.8877
OS grid reference SD 4130608436
Location Orsmkirk, Lancashire
Country England
Denomination Anglican
Architecture
Status Parish church
Functional status Active
Heritage designation Grade II*
Designated 11 May 1953 (1953-05-11)
Administration
Deanery Ormskirk
Archdeaconry Warrington
Diocese Liverpool
Province York

The Church of St Peter and St Paul is in the market town of Ormskirk, Lancashire, England. Dating from no later than the 12th century, it is one of only three churches in England to have both a western tower and a central spire, and the only one to have them both at the same end of the church. It is an active Anglican parish church in the Diocese of Liverpool. It has been designated a Grade II* listed building by English Heritage.[1]

Contents

History

The exact date of the foundation of a church in Ormskirk is unclear, although it is likely that there was a church on the site of the present one in Saxon time.[2] The Anglican parish of Ormskirk encompassed the settlements of Lathom, Burscough, Bickerstaffe, Scarisbrick and Skelmersdale.[3] Parts of the present church existed in the 12th century, although the building has been altered and added to over successive centuries. The north wall of the chancel dates from c. 1170.[3] A chapel was added to the south c. 1280.[3] The steeple was added in the late 14th century.[1] The large west tower was built c. 1540–50. The tower was probably built to house the bells from Burscough Priory, which had been suppressed c. 1536 as part of Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries.[3] This is one of only three churches in England to have both a western tower and a central spire.[nb 1] The north aisle and nave arcades were restored from 1877–91 by Lancaster architects Paley and Austin.[1]

Architecture

Exterior

The church is situated on a raised piece of land in the north-west of the town.[7] Mostly in the Perpendicular Gothic style,[8] it is constructed of coursed squared sandstone, with stone slate roofs. It has a nave, with aisles to the north and south. The large square tower is to the west, approximately 84 feet (26 m) high and 40 feet (12 m) square; it has three unequal stages and diagonal buttresses. The upper-most stage has a crenellated parapet and crocketed pinnacles. The tower has arched three-light belfry windows with tracery and stone louvres.[1]

The steeple sits on the south-east corner of the tower (also at the west end of the nave), approximately 25 feet (7.6 m) higher than the tower.[2] The steeple is square, with an octagonal bell stage.[8] The bell louvres are Decorated Gothic.[8] To the north of the building is the chancel and vestry. The Scarisbrick Chapel is to the south, and the Derby Chapel to the south-east.[2]

In his Passages from the English Notebooks of 1876, Nathaniel Hawthorne commented that the church "has not exactly a venerable aspect, being too good in repair, and much restored in various parts".[9]

Interior and fittings

Two of the effigies in the church

The nave's ceiling is of wood and has carved hammerbeam trusses. The five-bay aisle arcades have moulded piers and two-centred arches. Between the steeple and the south aisle there is a chamfered arch.[1] The vestry has in its western wall, an unglazed window that opens into the north aisle. It has a square head and original iron stanchions and saddle bars.[3]

The Derby Chapel is enclosed to the north and west by a 17th century wooden screen with high balusters and wrought iron fleur-de-lis cresting.[3][8] The chapel also contains three alabaster Derby effigies (probably to Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby and his two wives) and two tomb chests.[3][1] The Scarisbrick Chapel contains a hatchment and a wall monument.[1] James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby is also buried at the church.

The church has a ring of eight bells hung for change ringing, all cast in 1948 by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough. It also houses a bell cast in 1576 by Henry Oldfield of Nottingham, but this is no longer in use.[10][11]

See also

  • List of ecclesiastical works by Paley and Austin

References

Notes

  1. ^ The other churches with both a western tower and a central spire are in Wiltshire; St Mary's Church in Purton and St Andrew's Church in Wanborough.[4][5][6]

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Church of St Peter and St Paul", Heritage Gateway (English Heritage), http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=386382&resourceID=5, retrieved 19 September 2010 
  2. ^ a b c D., J. (7 November 1868), "Ormskirk Church", The Church of England Magazine (London: J. Burns, W. Edwards) LXV: 289, OCLC 35981180 
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Farrer & Brownbill (1907), pp. 238-246
  4. ^ "Church of St. Mary, Purton", Wiltshire Council, 2008, http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getchurch.php?id=547, retrieved 19 September 2010 
  5. ^ Richardson (1919), p. 10
  6. ^ Boughen, Tony, "Ormskirk, St Peter & St Paul", Lancashire Churches, http://www.lancashirechurches.co.uk/ormskirk.htm, retrieved 19 September 2010 
  7. ^ Harland (2010), p. 47
  8. ^ a b c d Pollard, Pevsner & Sharples (2006), pp. 531–34
  9. ^ Hawthorne (1876), p. 444
  10. ^ "Ormskirk—SS Peter & Paul", Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, 15 September 2009, http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=Ormskirk&DoveID=ORMSKIRK, retrieved 22 September 2010 
  11. ^ "Ormskirk", Database of historically significant bells and bellframes, 29 October 2007, http://www.churchcare.co.uk/bells.php, "To see the record, enter "Ormskirk" in the "Parish or Location" text box and hit "Search the database"" 

Sources

External links


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