Christ Church

Details

LANCASTER

SD4861 WYRESDALE ROAD 1685-1/5/328 (West side) Christ Church

GV II

Church. 1855-7. By Henry Martin of London. Paid for and endowed by Samuel Gregson MP. South chapel and then south aisle added subsequently, baptistry 1895 by Austin and Paley. Squared coursed sandstone with slate roofs. PLAN: nave with west baptistry and twin turrets, north porch, lower chancel, south aisle and south chapel under a pitched roof, a south porch in the angle between aisle and chapel, a north transept, and a north vestry under an M-roof on an east-west axis. EXTERIOR: the pointed arch windows contain mostly Geometrical tracery. The west towers have square bases broached to octagons and are capped by stone spirelets above bell openings which have gablets and engaged shafts. The south tower bell openings are now blocked with masonry. Below the 5-light west window the tower bases are linked by the added baptistry, which has Perpendicular tracery and is canted forwards in the centre. The west window of the aisle is of 3 lights. The south aisle has 5 bays separated by buttresses and a window of 2 trefoiled lights. A 6th bay has a 3-light window and is probably an alteration of the former south transept. The north nave wall has one bay to the west of the porch and 3 to the east. All have 2-light windows. The gabled porch has a moulded pointed outer doorway with angle shafts. The transept has a 3-light window to the north and one of 2 lights to the west. The north wall of the vestry has a mullioned window of 4 trefoiled lights and doorway with a Caernarfon arch. In its east wall are 2 windows of 2 lights with pointed heads. The chancel east window is of 3 lights and the east windows of the chapel and south aisle are of 2 lights each. The 2 windows in the south wall of the chapel are of 2 lights. The gabled south porch has a chamfered pointed doorway facing east. INTERIOR: the pointed arches of the 4-bay nave arcade are moulded in 2 orders which die into slender chamfered piers. The 5th, east, bay has an arch, formerly opening into the south transept, with semi-octagonal responds. The Baptistry is entered through 3 arched openings with carved angels above their separating columns. The font is of sandstone and marble and has a timber cover in the form of a Gothic spire, suspended from an iron crane. The ceiling is panelled and painted. The north transept was originally used by the inhabitants of the Workhouse, but in 1907 the present organ was installed and its pipes and casing, which is painted and gilded, now fill the transept arch. The nave has an open timber roof with principal rafters rising from wall corbels, and high collars with king posts and curved braces. The pointed chancel arch is moulded and the inner order is carried on corbelled shafts with foliated capitals. To its south a smaller moulded pointed doorway with angle shafts leads into the chapel. The boarded chancel ceiling has painted panels and ribs, as does the chapel ceiling. Between chancel and chapel are 2 moulded pointed arches springing from a central clustered column. The marble reredos was added in 1926. Stained glass by Casolani, made by Powell in 1865, also Powell glass of 1857. HISTORY: built following the removal of Lancaster Grammar School (qv) to a nearby site in East Road. It was also intended for use by inhabitants of the Workhouse, which lay immediately opposite the church on the east side of Wyresdale Road. Firms involved in its construction included MC Baynes (Masonry), C Blades (Joiners and Builders), Cross (Slaters and Plasterers), and Willan and Cleminson (Plumbers and Glaziers). (Christ Church Times: Lancaster: 1991-).

Listing NGR: SD4848361381

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

383354

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Christ Church Times in Christ Church Times, (1991)

End of official list entry

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