Details
SD71SW
797-1/2/11
BOLTON,
ASTLEY STREET (South side),
Church of All Souls
26/04/74
GV
II*
Former parish church, 1880, Paley and Austin, architects, in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust. Brick with slate roofs and stone dressings. West tower, nave and chancel.
EXTERIOR: 4-stage tower with west doorway, a traceried panelled door with beaten metalwork; stone carved emblems in moulding of arch and in spandrels; ogival quatrefoil panelled frieze above, and high 3-light traceried window over. Gabled porch projects from north wall, with blind traceried arcading in two tiers, raised and then flush, above the moulded archway. Second stage has round window composed of four quatrefoils in flat traceried frieze. Two small lights in low 3rd stage, and 3-light bell-chamber opening with Perpendicular tracery. Richly traceried parapet with crocketed pinnacles at angles. Semi-octagonal stair turret projects from north face of tower. 5-bay nave with a further blind bay to east. Octagonal pinnacles mark east end, with two tiers of stone traceried arcading, and crocketted cap. Divided into bays by buttresses, with blind stone relieving arches to ground floor, the windows set high up; 3-light 2-tier Perpendicular traceried windows. Chequerboard brickwork in blind eastern bay. 2-bay full-height organ chamber to north, and vestry or side chapel to south of chancel, with flat headed windows. Canted apsidal end to chancel, with 2-tier windows of 2 and 4 lights, and with quatrefoil frieze to parapet.
INTERIOR: a wide single space, with complex boarded roof with rib vaulting forming arcades, and king-post trusses across the main span. The windows, which are recessed behind a continuous sill, are separated by semi-octagonal shafts which carry the vaulting. High tower arch, and blind arches each side, with quatrefoil windows set high up. Chancel arch with flanking side arches, the chancel itself arcaded by 2 bays each side to organ chamber and side chapel/vestry, and octagonal wall shafts each side of main chancel arch, carrying tie beam of roof. Integral pulpit in main arch, octagonal with traceried wood panels on stone base with wrought-iron rail. Stone reredos with traceried panels, the outer panels inscribed with prayers etc. Ornate case to organ, in chamber to north of chancel. Choir stalls and other furniture possibly original, including canopied stalls against west wall of nave. Windows throughout have geometrical glazing, with some mosaic stained glass in west windows, and stained glass in east windows. Chancel east window possibly by Hardman, using a medieval idiom. Windows each side of chancel employ a renaissance style. Splayed octagonal font with wooden canopy added in 1923, beneath tower; a war memorial of enriched marble tablet mounted on north wall.
(BOE: Pevsner N: South Lancashire: Harmondsworth: 1969-).
Listing NGR: SD7137910887
This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 30 January 2017.
