St Luke's Church, Holmes Chapel

St Luke's Church, Holmes Chapel
St Luke's Church, Holmes Chapel, from the south
St Luke's Church, Holmes Chapel Location in Cheshire
Coordinates: 53°12′07″N 2°21′27″W / 53.2020°N 2.3575°W / 53.2020; -2.3575
OS grid reference	SJ 761 673
Location	Holmes Chapel, Cheshire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Luke's, Holmes Chapel
History
Dedication	St Luke
Consecrated	1430[1]
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	14 February 1967
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic
Completed	1705
Specifications
Materials	Tower sandstone Nave and chancel timber framed, enclosed in brick Welsh slate roof
Administration
Parish	Church Hulme
Deanery	Congleton
Archdeaconry	Macclesfield
Diocese	Chester
Province	York
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Rev Paul Mason
Assistant priest	Canon Ron J Smith
Laity
Reader	Anne Smith
Organist(s)	Christine Jones
Churchwarden(s)	Lew Riches, Steve Smith
Parish administrator	Barbara Smith

St Luke's Church, Holmes Chapel is in the village of Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, England on the A50 road at its junction with the A535 road. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building.^[2] It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Congleton.^[3]

History

There has been a church on the site since the 13th century.^[1] The present church originated about 1430 as a timber framed building with a Perpendicular sandstone west tower. The nave and chancel were encased in brick in the early 18th century.^[2] Shortly afterwards a west gallery was installed as a gift from Thomas Hall. Renovations have taken place in 1839, 1931 and 1950.^[1]

Architecture

Exterior

The tower is of sandstone and the nave and chancel are in brick, with a Welsh slate roof.^[2] The plan of the church consists of a four-bay nave with north and south aisles. The one-bay chancel has a lower roof and there is a vestry to its north.^[4] The tower has a west doorway above which is a two-light window. Above this is a small square ringers' window and belfry windows of two lights. The summit of the tower is embattled with gargoyles at each corner.^[5] On the north and south faces of the tower are diamond-shaped clock faces. The aisle windows are in two tiers with semicircular heads.^[2]

Interior

The timber roof was revealed when a later plaster ceiling was removed.^[5] This dates from the 15th century and is a combination of arch braced trusses with cambered tie beams. Oak panelled galleries dating from around 1705 are over the west end and the south aisle, the former containing the organ, and the latter box pews. A carved oak crest dated 1622 is near the communion rail. The stone font is dated 1890 and the oak pulpit is also from the 19th century.^[2] On the walls are wall memorials. The brass candelabrum, dated 1708, is the oldest in any church in Cheshire.^[5] The stained glass in the east window dates from 1921, and was designed by H. W. Lonsdale. There are monuments in the church dated 1715, 1801, and 1836.^[6] The organ was built in 1851 by Richard Jackson and was rebuilt around 1900 by A. Young, and again in 1972 by L. Reeves.^[7] The ring is of six bells, four of which by are Richard Sanders and date from 1709. The other two bells are dated 1858 and were cast by G. Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry.^[8] The parish registers begin in 1613 and the churchwardens' accounts from 1812.^[5]

See also

• Grade I listed buildings in Cheshire

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Cheshire: Holmes Chapel: St Luke's, West Gallery Churches, http://www.westgallerychurches.com/Chesh/Holmes%20Chapel/Holmes_Chapel.html, retrieved 10 September 2007 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Church of St Luke, Holmes Chapel", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1231322, retrieved 29 April 2011 
3. ^ St Luke, Holmes Chapel, Church of England, http://www.achurchnearyou.com/church-hulme-or-holmes-chapel-st-luke/, retrieved 10 January 2011 
4. ^ Salter, Mark (1995), The Old Parish Churches of Cheshire, Malvern: Folly Publications, pp. 42–43, ISBN 1-871731-23-2 
5. ^ ^{a b c d} Richards, Raymond (1947), Old Cheshire Churches, London: Batsford, pp. 186–190 
6. ^ Hartwell, Claire; Hyde, Matthew; Hubbard, Edward; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2011) [1971], Cheshire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 401–402, ISBN 978-0-300-17043-6 
7. ^ Holmes Chapel St Luke, British Institute of Organ Studies, http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=H00023, retrieved 10 August 2008 
8. ^ Holmes Chapel St. Luke, Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=Holmes+Chapel&Submit=++Go++&DoveID=HOLMES+CHA, retrieved 10 August 2008 

External links

• Photographs by Craig Thornber