- St John the Evangelist's Church, Winsford
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St John the Evangelist's Church, Winsford 
West end of St John's Church, WinsfordLocation in Cheshire
St John the Evangelist's Church, WinsfordCoordinates: 53°11′32″N 2°32′53″W / 53.1922°N 2.5481°W OS grid reference SJ 635 663 Location Delamere Street,
Over, Winsford, CheshireCountry England Denomination Anglican Website St John, Over History Founder(s) Hugh Cholmondeley, 2nd Baron Delamere Dedication St John the Evangelist Consecrated June 1863 Architecture Status Parish church Functional status Active Heritage designation Grade II Designated 12 March 1986 Architect(s) John Douglas Architectural type Church Style Gothic Revival Groundbreaking 1861 Completed 1863 Construction cost £5,000
(£360,000 as of 2011)[1]Specifications Spire height 140 feet (43 m) Materials Sandstone, grey slate roof Administration Parish St John the Evangelist, Over Deanery Middlewich Archdeaconry Chester Diocese Chester Province York Clergy Vicar(s) Revd George Crowder Laity Churchwarden(s) Graham Tucker
Christine CooperSt John the Evangelist's Church, Winsford, is in Over, Winsford, Cheshire, England. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.[2] It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Middlewich.[3]
Contents
History
In 1860 Hugh Cholmondeley, 2nd Baron Delamere, commissioned the Chester architect John Douglas to build a church in the centre of Over, which was then a village separate from Winsford, as a memorial to his wife, Sara. At that time Douglas was at the start of his career and was working for Lord Delamere at his house and estate at Vale Royal Abbey. A new parish of St John the Evangelist was created out of the parishes of St Mary, Whitegate and St Chad, Over. The church was consecrated by John Graham, Bishop of Chester in June 1863.[4] This was the first church designed by John Douglas.[5]
In 1961 a new choir vestry was formed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the church. A Lady Chapel was dedicated in 1972 with an aumbry added the following year. Outside porch doors were fitted in 1979.[4]
Architecture
The church is built in Runcorn sandstone[4] with a grey slate roof. It is in Decorated style. Its plan consists of a five-bay nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, a chancel, a tower at the southwest corner, and a vestry at the northeast.[2] The tower is in three stages with a spire and angle buttresses. In the third stage of the tower are two-light bell openings and clock faces on three sides.[2] There is no clock face on the south side because when the church was built there were only fields on that side. The spire is 140 feet (43 m) high.[4] On the spire are lucarnes, and at the top is a wrought iron cross. A chimney stack rises from the gable of the vestry. Internally there is stone panelling at the east end with an alabaster model of the Last Supper.[2]
External features
In the churchyard there are many memorials; these include one to those who died in a cotton mill fire in Over in 1874.[4] This memorial is constructed in yellow sandstone ashlar and carries inscriptions, including a quotation from St Mark's Gospel, and the names of the four victims which include a baby aged three months. It is listed Grade II.[6]
Present day
The church has regular services on Sundays and Wednesdays. It holds baptisms, marriages and funerals and other occasional events.[4]
See also
- List of new churches by John Douglas
References
- ^ UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Lawrence H. Officer (2010) "What Were the UK Earnings and Prices Then?" MeasuringWorth.
- ^ a b c d "Church of St John the Evangelist, Winsford", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1329818, retrieved 7 May 2011
- ^ Winsford, St John the Evangelist, Church of England, http://www.achurchnearyou.com/over-st-john-the-evangelist/, retrieved 18 October 2008
- ^ a b c d e f St John's Church, Over, Winsford, St John's Church, Over, Winsford, http://www.stjohnover.org.uk/, retrieved 9 March 2008
- ^ Hubbard, Edward (1991), The Work of John Douglas, London: The Victorian Society, p. 238, ISBN 0-901657-16-6
- ^ "Monument c. 20 yards to north of Church of St John the Evangelist, Winsford", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1160760, retrieved 7 May 2011
Categories:- Religious buildings completed in 1863
- 19th-century church buildings
- Anglican congregations established in the 19th century
- Church of England churches in Cheshire
- Grade II listed churches
- Grade II listed buildings in Cheshire
- Gothic Revival architecture in Cheshire
- John Douglas buildings
- Diocese of Chester
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