Christ Church, Walmsley

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Christ Church, Walmsley

Christ Church, Walmsley, from the northwest
Coordinates: 53°37′25″N 2°26′20″W / 53.6236°N 2.4389°W / 53.6236; -2.4389
OS grid reference SD 711,142
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 David Michael Dunn

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 is designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.[2]

History

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] It was the first substantial church with aisles to be designed by Sharpe.[4] Although the estimated cost was £2,150, the actual cost was £3,557 (£270,000 as of 2014),[ 1] towards which a grant of £300 was given by the Incorporated Church Building Society. The church provided seating for 512 people.[5] It was consecrated on 3 October 1839 by Rt Rev John Bird Sumner, then the Bishop of Chester.[6] Transepts were added in 1867.[3][7]

Architecture

Exterior

Christ Church is constructed in stone with ashlar dressings and a slate roof. Its plan consists of a six-bay 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]

Interior

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.[6][7] 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.[7] 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.[8]

External features

The churchyard contains the war graves of seven soldiers from World War I, and a soldier, an airman and a Royal Navy sailor of World War II.[9]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Walmsley, Christ Church, Church of England, retrieved 2 April 2010 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 English Heritage. "Christ Church, Bolton (1309572)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 May 2012 .
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Billington 1982.
  4. ↑ Brandwood et al. 2012, p. 26.
  5. ↑ Brandwood et al. 2012, p. 210.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Hughes 2010, p. 144.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Hartwell, Hyde & Pevsner 2004, pp. 213–214.
  8. ↑ Lancashire (Manchester, Greater), Bolton – Christ Church, Walmsley, British Institute of Organ Studies, retrieved 2 April 2010 
  9. ↑ WALMSLEY (CHRIST CHURCH) CHURCHYARD, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, retrieved 6 February 2013 

Sources

  • Billington, W. D. (1982), From Affetside to Yarrow : Bolton place names and their history, Ross Anderson, ISBN 0-86360-003-4 
  • Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon: English Heritage, ISBN 978-1-84802-049-8 
  • Hartwell, Clare; Hyde, Matthew; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2004), Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-10583-5 
  • Hughes, John M. (2010), Edmund Sharpe: Man of Lancaster, John M. Hughes 

External links

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