- St John and St Mary Magdalene Church, Goldthorpe
St. John and St. Mary Magdalene Church, in
Goldthorpe , nearBarnsley , built in 1916, is an early example of aferro-concrete building.Commissioned by Lord Halifax, a former resident of
Hickleton Hall , its strange Italian style is unique in this part ofSouth Yorkshire and is distinctly odd for aDearne Valley mining village.It was the first church in England to be built almost entirely in reinforced concrete, including all the principal internal furnishings within the church (which are of finely-finished concrete), the
Presbytery , which is attached to the church, and even the boundary walls. [English Heritage, State of the Historic Environment Report 2002, Yorkshire] The experimental nature of this construction, however, meant that the composition of the concrete allowed acidic water to leach through and rust the metal core ofthe walls. By the 1990's the church structure was showing significant signs of degradation and had to be substantially reinforced, with theHeritage Lottery Fund part-funding the repairs. The church was re-hallowed in June 2002.According to Pevsner, the pulpit bought by the church in 1931 is 18th century Flemish [N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Yorkshire:The West Riding, Harmondsworth, 1959, 2nd edn. 1967.] .
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