St John the Evangelist's Church, Farnworth

St John the Evangelist's Church, Farnworth
West face of St John the Evangelist's Church, Farnworth
St John the Evangelist's Church, Farnworth Location in Greater Manchester
Coordinates: 53°32′55″N 2°23′16″W / 53.5485°N 2.3878°W / 53.5485; -2.3878
OS grid reference	SD 744 058
Location	Farnworth, Greater Manchester
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St John the Evangelist, Farnworth
History
Dedication	Saint John the Evangelist
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	31 May 1966
Architect(s)	Thomas Hardwick, Paley and Austin
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1824
Completed	1871
Administration
Parish	Farnworth and Kearsley
Deanery	Bolton
Archdeaconry	Bolton
Diocese	Manchester
Province	York
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Rev. Carol Helen Pharaoh
Assistant priest	Rev. Phillip Castle
Laity
Reader	Patricia Coward
Organist(s)	Katie Wearing
Churchwarden(s)	Joan Hall, Jackie Powell
Parish administrator	Betty Higham

St John the Evangelist's Church, Farnworth, stands in Church Street, Farnworth, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Bolton, the archdeaconry of Bolton, and the diocese of Manchester. Its benefice is united with those of St Peter, Farnworth, Holy Trinity, Prestolee, and St Saviour, Ringley.^[1] The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.^[2]

History

St John's was built as a Commissioners' church between 1824 and 1826 to a design by Thomas Hardwick.^[3] The chancel was added in 1871 by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin.^[4] In 1912 the pinnacles were removed from the tower.^[3]

Architecture

Exterior

The church is constructed in stone and has slate roofs. Its plan consists of a five-bay nave, a three-bay chancel, a south vestry, an organ loft to the north, and a west tower. The tower is in four stages separated by string courses, and has octagonal buttresses rising to turrets at the corners. In the bottom is a doorway with a pointed arch, above which is a two-light window. In the third stage is a diagonal clock face, and the two-light bell openings are louvred. The parapet is embattled. On each side of the tower are two-light windows, and there are similar windows on the north and south sides of the church. The east widow has five lights.^[2]

Interior

There is a gallery on three sides of the church, supported by octagonal columns. On the west gallery are the royal arms of George I. The ceiling is flat and contains ribs and bosses. Between the chancel and the vestry to the north and the organ loft to the south are two-bay arcades.^[2] The reredos and pews date from 1874.^[3] The font is octagonal, standing on a moulded shaft, and has panelled sides. The wooden pulpit dates from 1907, and stands on a stone quatrefoil column.^[2] The stained glass in the east window depicts the Baptism of Jesus and the Crucifixion. Elsewhere there is glass by Heaton, Butler and Bayne of 1908, G. Wragge of 1923, Shrigley and Hunt of 1939, and W. Pointer of 1958.^[3] The three-manual pipe organ was built in 1894 by Peter Conacher and Company. In 1980 its action was changed from tubular-pneumatic to electro-pneumatic by H. Y. Ainscough. However by 2002 it had become unreliable, it was mothballed, and replaced by an electronic organ.^[5] The ring consists of eight bells, all of which were cast in 1954 by John Taylor & Co.^[6]

External features

The gates and gate piers to the churchyard dating from about 1826 or later are listed at Grade II.^[7]

See also

• List of ecclesiastical works by Paley and Austin
• List of Commissioners' churches in Northeast and Northwest England

References

1. ^ St John the Evangelist, Farnworth, Church of England, http://www.achurchnearyou.com/farnworth-st-john-the-evangelist/, retrieved 19 July 2011 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "Church of St John the Evangelist, Bolton", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1356796, retrieved 19 July 2011 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} 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. 219, ISBN 0-300-10583-5 
4. ^ Price, James (1998), Sharpe, Paley and Austin: A Lancaster Architectural Practice 1836–1942, Lancaster: Centre for North-West Regional Studies, p. 82, ISBN 1-86220-054-8 
5. ^ Lancashire (Manchester, Greater), Farnworth, St. John, Church Street (N00811), British Institute of Organ Studies, http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N00811, retrieved 20 July 2011 
6. ^ Farnworth and Kearsley, S John, Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=farnworth&Submit=+Go+&DoveID=FARNWORTHK, retrieved 20 July 2011 
7. ^ "Gates and gate piers to west of St John's Church Bolton", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1067294, retrieved 19 July 2011