- Bispham Parish Church
Bispham Parish Church, also known as All Hallows Church is a parish church located in
Bispham, Blackpool ,Lancashire ,England .In 1351, in the aftermath of the
Black Death , the Archdeacon made a visitation to ascertain whether the chapel had sufficient parishioners to make it viable as a place of worship, and also enquired of St Mary’s of Lancaster by what right they held the claim to Bispham. The Archdeacon was evidently persuaded not to sell off the chapelery and its lands.Eighteenth century records show that there existed a church of red sandstone, with a double-gable roof, supported by oaken pillars, laid down in the centre of the nave. There was a separate chancel, black oak pews in the nave, with three lancet windows in the East end and a low tower at the West.
In 1773, the pillars were deemed unsafe and removed and the building heightened, but by the middle of the nineteenth century, the church was in danger of collapse, and in 1883 had to be demolished. A new structure of limestone was built on the same site, and during the rebuilding, were discovered a Saxon piscena and a Norman sandstone arch, with chevron carvings, enclosing the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Many of the signs are weather-beaten, but the emblems of Taurus, Cancer and Virgo are recognisable.
The churchyard contains the tombs of many shipwreck victims, including the captain and crew of the Brig "Favourite", which sank off Blackpool in 1865, and passengers from the "
Ocean Monarch ", which caught fire in the Irish Sea in 1848. Also commemorated in the churchyard is theactressViolet Carson , who lived in Bispham and who died in 1983 and gained fame between 1960 and 1980 for her portrayal ofEna Sharples inCoronation Street .References
External links
* [http://www.bisphamparishchurch.co.uk/ Bispham Parish Church official website]
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