- St John the Baptist's Church, Bretherton
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St John the Baptist's Church, Bretherton 
St John the Baptist's Church, Bretherton, from the southLocation in Lancashire
St John the Baptist's Church, BrethertonCoordinates: 53°40′40″N 2°47′42″W / 53.6777°N 2.7951°W OS grid reference SD 476 204 Location Bretherton, Lancashire Country England Denomination Anglican Website St John the Baptist, Bretherton History Founded 1839 Dedication St John the Baptist Consecrated July 1840 Architecture Status Parish church Functional status Active Heritage designation Grade II Designated 30 January 1987 Architect(s) Edmund Sharpe
Austin and PaleyArchitectural type Church Style Gothic Revival Groundbreaking 1839 Completed 1909 Construction cost £1,058 (£70,000 as of 2011) Specifications Materials Sandstone, slate roofs Administration Parish Bretherton Deanery Chorley Archdeaconry Blackburn Diocese Blackburn Province York Clergy Rector Rev D. J. Reynolds Laity Reader Miss J. Maggs Organist(s) Mrs Lesley Moulton Churchwarden(s) C. Whittle, Mrs S. Williams St John the Baptist's Church, Bretherton, is in the village of Bretherton, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Chorley, the archdeaconry of Blackburn and the diocese of Blackburn. Its benefice is united with that of St Michael and All Angels, Croston.[1] The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.[2]
Contents
History
St John's was a Commissioners' church costing £1,058 (£70,000 as of 2011).[3][4] It was designed by the Lancaster architect Edmund Sharpe and built in 1839–40. In July 1840 it was consecrated by Rt Revd John Bird Sumner, at that time the Bishop of Chester.[5] The church was restored in 1898 by Sharpe's successors Austin and Paley, who also added a chancel and vestry in 1908–09.[6] In September 2009 the church was damaged by fire caused by an arsonist.[7]
Architecture
The church is constructed in sandstone with slate roofs. Its plan consists of a five-bay nave incorporating a south porch, and a two-bay chancel under a higher roof. The style of the nave is "simple Gothic", while that of the chancel is Perpendicular. At the west end is a slender tower, the lowest stage of which constitutes a porch that is open on three sides. Above this are three string courses, the top one of which is stepped over the bell opening. At the corners are buttresses that rise to form crocketted pinnacles. At the top of the tower between the pinnacles is a stepped parapet. A slim octagonal spire rises from the tower. The porch has an arched doorway over which is a lancet window. Its top is gabled and has a cross finial. The east window has five lights and Perpendicular tracery. Inside the church is a west gallery supported on four slim iron columns.[2] The two-manual organ was built by Ainscough Organ Builders of Preston in 1929, and rebuilt and extended by David Wells of Liverpool in 2000.[8]
See also
- List of architectural works by Edmund Sharpe
- List of ecclesiastical works by Austin and Paley (1895–1914)
- List of Commissioners' churches in northern England
References
- ^ St John the Baptist, Bretherton, Church of England, http://www.achurchnearyou.com/bretherton-st-john-the-baptist/, retrieved 27 July 2011
- ^ a b "Church of St John the Evangelist, Bretherton", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1362115, retrieved 12 May 2011
- ^ UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Lawrence H. Officer (2010) "What Were the UK Earnings and Prices Then?" MeasuringWorth.
- ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus (2002) [1969], North Lancashire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 75, ISBN 0-300-09617-8
- ^ Hughes, John M. (2010), Edmund Sharpe: Man of Lancaster, John M. Hughes, p. 138
- ^ Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) [1969], Lancashire: North, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 168–169, ISBN 978-0-300-12667-9
- ^ Johnson, Mark (1 October 2009), "Yobs destroy pulpit at John the Baptist Church in Bretherton and St Michael’s CE Church in Much Hoole", Ormskirk Advertiser (Ormskirk: Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales), http://www.osadvertiser.co.uk/news/ormskirk-news/2009/10/01/yobs-destroy-pulpit-at-john-the-baptist-church-in-bretherton-and-st-michael-s-ce-church-in-much-hoole-80904-24819930/, retrieved 3 April 2010
- ^ Lancashire, Bretherton - St. John the Baptist, British Institute of Organ Studies, http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=K00908, retrieved 3 April 2010
Categories:- Church of England churches in Lancashire
- Grade II listed churches
- Grade II listed buildings in Lancashire
- Gothic Revival architecture in England
- Religious buildings completed in 1909
- 19th-century church buildings
- Anglican congregations established in the 19th century
- Diocese of Blackburn
- Edmund Sharpe buildings
- Austin and Paley buildings
- Commissioners' churches
- Places of worship damaged by arson
- Buildings and structures in Chorley
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