Church Of St Aidan

The Church of St Aidan is a parish church built between 1910 and 1911, with additions completed in 1930. It was designed by C Hodgson Fowler, with contributions funded by Matilda Miller and later by George and Dorothy Short. Constructed of red brick with ashlar red sandstone dressings, the church has a roof of plain tiles with red ridge tiles, shingle on the bellcote, and stone gable copings. It is designed in the Gothic style and features a plinth, stepped buttresses, and perpendicular tracery.

The church’s main body, the nave, is aisled and includes a north porch and vestries. The gabled nave features a five-light east window flanked by gabled aisles. Five bays along the north side are defined by buttresses. Pointed-arched aisle windows are recessed within chamfered surrounds, originating from high, pointed-arched panels that spring from buttresses at sill string level. The north porch has steps leading up to a pointed arch with a hollow-moulded chamfer. A side buttress supports gabled kneelers and a stone gable coping. A similar door is present in the west bay of the south aisle. Three east-facing gables, each separated by buttresses, rise to nave and aisle windows, supported by intermittent ashlar blocks that support coping with gabled kneelers. Cross finials adorn the aisles. Three steeply pitched roofs are present. A bellcote near the west end of the nave has a tall, pyramidal spirelet covered in shingles, with swept eaves over louvres on a shingle-covered plinth; a gabled covering conceals a brick-sided vent for a chimney at the east end of the north aisle.

Inside, the church is light and spacious, with plastered ceilings above high-panelled wainscot. It features sandstone arcades, and lacks a formal chancel division. The four-bay nave arcades rest on octagonal piers with brattished capitals and double-chamfered pointed arches. A narrow west baptistry bay exists, alongside a two-bay chancel with compound piers. There is no chancel arch, but paired two-light roof lights illuminate the east bay of the nave. Arch-braced roof trusses are corbelled, with struts and king posts on high collars; aisle roof trusses are supported by wall posts. Fine wood screens divide the side chapels. A low choir screen incorporates linenfold panelling, while oak choir stalls, a communion rail, and a pulpit display perpendicular tracery. A painted tryptych reredos is located in the sanctuary and in the Lady Chapel. A font of fine-grained red sandstone, bearing low relief religious scenes and an inscription, was gifted by the children in 1911. High-quality painted glass is in the east and west windows.