Church Of St Luke

Church of St Luke

A parish church built circa 1430, with early 18th-century alterations. The building is constructed of sandstone, with red brick chancel and nave in Flemish bond and a stone slate roof. It comprises a tower with porch, a four-bay nave with side aisles, and a one-bay chancel.

The church is fundamentally a large Perpendicular timber-framed structure with a Perpendicular west tower. The chancel and nave were encased in brickwork in the early 18th century.

The square sandstone tower features buttresses that reduce in height four times. The entrance has a Gothic-headed, ledged and boarded oak door with large plain strap hinges, set in a coved and headed opening surmounted by a hood mould. Above the door is a two-light Perpendicular window, and above this an empty niche with splayed reveals. A small single-light window sits below the two-light louvred window at bell stage. The north and south faces of the tower carry diamond-shaped clock dials. The tower is finished with a plain coved cornice, angle gargoyles, and a crenellated parapet.

The aisle windows are arranged in two tiers across six bays on each side. The lower windows are semi-circular headed, single light, with lead lattice glazing in wood frames. Above these, a three-course deep projecting brick band is surmounted by shorter segmental single-light wood windows. Segmental-headed oak boarded doors with strap hinges are positioned in the second and sixth window bays on each side. On the north aisle, these doors are flanked by wide brick pilasters and have pediments above the arches. The aisles have lean-to roofs with slightly shallower pitches than the nave, finished with sandstone copings and kneelers at the ends.

The chancel has a three-light stone Perpendicular window with stained glass, surmounted by a hood mould supported by corbels with carved faces. The chancel roof is lower than the nave and features sandstone ridge and hip tiles. A small vestry is positioned in the angle between the north aisle and chancel.

Interior

The tower entrance opens into a porch with tower steps, separated from the nave by a pair of three-panel glazed doors with wide panelled lining, installed in 1980. The nave is separated from the aisles by angle roll-beaded octagonal oak posts on low stone bases, which support three main roof trusses. Oak-panelled galleries, circa 1705, span the western end of the church and over the south aisle, containing the organ and three rows of box pews respectively. The nave floor is laid with stone slabs and headstones.

The chancel contains a plain oak reredos with side panelling and a low oak communion rail with turned balusters. A carved oak crest dated 1622 is positioned low on the south side near the communion rail. Wall memorials in the chancel are dated 1810, 1828, and 1836. Several fine wall memorials spanning the mid-19th to 1915 are located on the aisle walls. A stone font of 1890 and a 19th-century oak pulpit with Gothic motifs are present. A brass chandelier dated 1708 hangs from a nave main truss.

The chancel ceiling is low, flat, and plastered, separated from the nave by a chevron plaster-filled truss.

The 15th-century nave roof features arch-braced trusses with cambered tie beams. The moulding on the octagonal posts continues onto the arch braces, and shaped struts support the upper purlins. Intermediate arch-braced collar trusses also have shaped struts. Exposed rafters and two lines of purlins with quatrefoil wind braces are visible. Main roof wall plates are strutted and braced from a girding beam 600mm below. The aisle roofs have exposed rafters and purlins supported by simple braced trusses carried on the octagonal posts separating the aisles from the nave. Although externally unremarkable, the quality of this roof frame is significant, ranking this church high among Cheshire's timber-framed churches.