St Peter's Church, Minshull Vernon

St Peter's Church, Minshull Vernon

St Peter's Church, Minshull Vernon, from the northeast
St Peter's Church, Minshull Vernon

Location in Cheshire

Coordinates: 53°07′51″N 2°28′38″W / 53.1309°N 2.4773°W
OS grid reference SJ 682 594
Location Middlewich Road, Minshull Vernon, Cheshire
Country England
Denomination Anglican
Website St Peter, Minshull Vernon
History
Dedication Saint Peter
Consecrated 12 December 1849
Architecture
Status Parish church
Functional status Active
Heritage designation Grade II
Designated 20 December 1983
Architect(s) John Matthews
Architectural type Church
Style Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking 1847
Completed 1849
Construction cost £1,700
Specifications
Materials Stone, slate roofs
Administration
Parish Leighton-cum-Minshull Vernon
Deanery Nantwich
Archdeaconry Macclesfield
Diocese Chester
Province York
Clergy
Vicar(s) Revd Philip Goggin
Laity
Churchwarden(s) Jenny Powell
Parish administrator Margaret Heming

St Peter's Church is in Middlewich Road, Minshull Vernon, Cheshire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Nantwich, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield, and the diocese of Chester. Its benefice is combined with that of St Leonard, Warmingham.[1] The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.[2] It was a Commissioners' church, having received a grant towards its construction from the Church Building Commission.[3]

History

The parish of Minshull Vernon was formed in 1840, and the earlier church stood on a different site nearer to where Leighton Hospital now stands. This church was damaged by fire and was demolished.[4] St Peter's was built between 1847 and 1849 to a design by John Matthews,[5] and consecrated on 12 December 1849.[1] A grant of £150 was given towards its construction by the Church Building Commission,[3] the total cost of its building being £1,700 (£150,000 in 2015).[4][6] A north transept to accommodate the organ was added in 1903,[4] and this was extended in 1913 by Harold Sheldon.[5] Electricity was installed in the church in 1959, and a new vestry was added to the south side of the church in 1966.[4]

Architecture

The church is constructed in stone with slate roofs. Its plan consists of a four-bay nave, a north porch, a chancel that is narrower and lower than the nave, a north transept for the organ, and a south vestry. On the west gable is a double bellcote. Most of the windows are lancets, with a triple lancet at the east end. Inside the church is an oak pulpit and a lectern in the shape of an eagle. On the north wall of the chancel is a trefoil-headed sedilia. The choir benches are carved with poppyheads.[2] The stained glass in the east window was installed in 1879.[4] The glass in the north window of the chancel was moved from a Congregational church in Cheadle in 1974. Stained glass was added to the small window above the chancel arch to celebrate the millennium.[7] The three-manual pipe organ was built in 1847 by Wadsworth.[8]

Churchyard

The churchyard contains the war grave, standing east of the church, of a soldier of World War I.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 St Peter's, Leighton-cum-Minshull Vernon, Crewe, Church of England, retrieved 21 March 2012
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Historic England, "Church of St Peter, Minshull Vernon (1330057)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 21 March 2012
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Port, M. H. (2006), 600 New Churches: The Church Building Commission 1818–1856 (2nd ed.), Reading: Spire Books, p. 331, ISBN 978-1-904965-08-4
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 History of Leighton-cum-Minshull Vernon, Family History Society of Cheshire: Crewe Group, retrieved 21 March 2012
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Hartwell, Clare; Hyde, Matthew; Hubbard, Edward; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2011) [1971], Cheshire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 483, ISBN 978-0-300-17043-6
  6. ↑ UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Gregory Clark (2014), "What Were the British Earnings and Prices Then? (New Series)" MeasuringWorth.
  7. ↑ Information, St Peter's Church, Leighton-cum-Minshull Vernon, retrieved 21 March 2012
  8. ↑ Cheshire, Leighton-cum-Minshull Vernon, St. Peter (D06248), British Institute of Organ Studies, retrieved 21 March 2012
  9. ↑ ROBINSON, J, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, retrieved 3 February 2013