| Christ Church, Walmsley | |
Christ Church, Walmsley, from the northwest
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| OS grid reference | SD 711 142 |
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| Location | Blackburn Road, Walmsley, Egerton, Greater Manchester |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Website | Christ Church, Walmsley |
| History | |
| Consecrated | 3 October 1839 |
| Architecture | |
| Status | Parish church |
| Functional status | Active |
| Heritage designation | Grade II |
| Designated | 19 August 1986 |
| Architect(s) | Edmund Sharpe |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Style | Gothic Revival |
| Groundbreaking | 1839 |
| Completed | 1867 |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Walmsley |
| Deanery | Walmsley |
| Archdeaconry | Bolton |
| Diocese | Manchester |
| Province | York |
| Clergy | |
| Vicar(s) | Revd K Thomas |
Christ Church, Walmsley is situated on Blackburn Road, Walmsley, Egerton, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active Church of England parish church in the deanery of Walmsley, the archdeaconry of Bolton, and the diocese of Manchester.[1] The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.[2]
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Walmsley was the old name for the present village of Egerton. The first known building there was originally a chapel of ease in the ancient parish of Bolton le Moors. It is not known the date that Walmsley Chapel was built, but the Diocesan Church Calendar stated that it existed in the year 1500 and the first documentary evidence appears to be in the "Inventories of Church Goods 1552". The chapel was rebuilt in 1771, but was demolished in 1839. The present church was built in 1839–40 and designed by the Lancaster architect Edmund Sharpe.[3] The church cost £3,557 (£250,000 as of 2012),[4] and was consecrated on 3 October 1839 by Rt Rev John Bird Sumner, then the bishop of Chester.[5] Transepts were added in 1867.[3][6]
Christ Church is constructed in stone with ashlar dressings and a slate roof. Its plan consists of a sixbay nave, with a clerestory, north and south aisles, north and south transepts, and a chancel with an organ loft to the south and a lean-to vestry to the north. The tower is at the west end; it is in three stages, separated by string courses. There are twin lancet windows in the lower stage, single lancets in the middle stage and stepped lancets in the top stage containing louvred bell openings. The plain parapet is corbelled, and corner buttresses rise to a pinnacle at each corner.[2]
Inside the church, the arcades are carried on monolithic piers (made from single pieces of stone). They are 16 feet (4.9 m) high and carved into four shafts.[5][6] The west gallery is supported on two cast iron columns.[2] The panelled reredos dates from 1872 and side panels were added in 1908; all the panels depict scenes in mosaic. The chapel in the south transept contains an altar with a canopy and another reredos. These were added to the church in 1952 to accommodate a 15th-century painted predella. This is divided into three sections containing depictions of Christ before Pilate, Man of Sorrows, and the Lamentation; the sections are separated by gilded tracery. The war memorial, dating from about 1920, is in alabaster, and depicts an angel an a wreath. The stained glass in the east window dates from 1872 is by William Wailes, and that in the south transept, dating from 1896 is by Ballantyne and Gardiner. In the nave, in windows facing each other, is glass designed by Edward Burne-Jones and made by Morris & Co. in 1889.[6] The font, which carries a dedication dated 1845, was moved here from Bolton Parish Church in 1952.[2] The three-manual organ dates from 1884.[7]