| Rivington Church | |
Rivington Church
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| Location | Rivington, Lancashire, England |
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| Country | England |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Website | http://www.rivingtonparishchurch.org.uk/ |
| History | |
| Founded | 1540 |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Heritage designation | Grade II Listed building |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | Sandstone |
Rivington Church is an active Church of England parish church in Rivington, Lancashire, England. The Church has been designated as a Grade II Listed building.[1] The Church has no patron saint and is not named after a saint or martyr. It has been variously called St. Lawrence, St. George, Holy Trinity, and St. Catherine, but its correct title is Rivington Church.[2]
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The earliest reference to a church on this site is in a deed of 1280 mentioning three acres of "terra ecclesiastical" in Rivington.[3] A Saxon font, found in the locality, is housed in the Millennium Room at the church.[4] When repairs were carried out to the flooring, the foundations of an earlier building were discovered, possibly Saxon in origin.[3]
The present church was founded by royal patent of Queen Elizabeth I in 1566 at the petition of James Pilkington, the first Protestant Bishop of Durham, who was born in the village. The patent was granted for the church and a school at Rivington. Richard Pilkington, father of the bishop, appealed to Doctor Bird, the Bishop of Chester, to dedicate the chapel and chapelyard and it was consecrated by him in October 1541.[4] At the consecration, the inhabitants of the village stated on oath they had used this site for generations. The Reverend Samuel Newton was ejected from the church on "Bartholemew Sunday" in 1662 and most probably the staunchly Puritan congregation followed him and many became Presbyterian.[5] This event led to the eventual founding of Rivington Unitarian Chapel.
The church is primarily as built in 1666 with alterations and restoration in the late 19th century.[1] The present north wall is the original wall of the building.[3] Rivington was created a parish out of the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Bolton le Moors in 1856, and at their own cost, and by a privilege which only eleven churches in the country possessed, the parishioners were able to select their own minister.[3]
The church is built of irregularly coursed sandstone with large quoins, some measuring five feet, at the corners and a slate roof. It is a small plain building with three three-light windows on each side. The nave is 55 feet 6 inches in length by 27 feet 6 inches in width and the chancel, 13 feet 6 inches by 15 feet 6 inches. There is a 19th century gabled porch between the centre and western windows on the south side and a modern vestry on north side. The west gable wall has an elliptical-headed doorway and there is an octagonal bell turret with square base and a conical roof with a weathervane. The roof is covered with green slates and finished with overhanging eaves. The three bay nave has square-headed windows of three square lights on the north side, and round headed on the south side. There is a doorway between the second and third windows from the east on each side and a door at the west end.[6] The chancel has three round-headed lights in each side and there is a five light east window.[1]
The earliest gravestone is marked 1616. The earliest memorial in the church is dated 1627. Stones near the entrance include the 'Anderton Stone' which depicts shack bolts from the Anderton coat of arms and a crucified figure with 'INRI' believed to originate from Anderton Hall chapel.[7] Above it is a carved with a Sator Square reading "SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS" which possibly predates the Christian era.[8]
The roof has four collar trusses with bracing to tie-beams and collars. There is a late medieval oak screen and a late sixteenth century octagonal, oak pulpit on a stem, with two linen-fold panels in each side.[1] The screen and pulpit are considered to predate the church building.[6][9] On the north wall there is a genealogical painting copied in 1835 from a sixteenth century painting relating to the Pilkington family which was damaged by fire in 1834. There is an 18th century brass chandelier with fluted body and two tiers of arms.[1] There are graves stones including one inscribed 'Richard Pilkyngton' beneath the wooden floor.[3]
The belltower, a Grade II Listed building in the churchyard close to the church, is a small, square, single-storey building with a basement and outside steps built in sandstone with a stone slate roof. It was built in 1542 to hold a large bell bought from the Wigan church in the same year. The bell is missing.[10] The detached bellhouse, the only such structure in Lancashire, was used as a charnel house but is now used as a tool house by the sexton and grave digger.[11]