Church Of St Stephen

The Church of St Stephen is a late Victorian Gothic church built in 1876-7 by the architect John Douglas, situated in Moulton. The exterior is constructed of snecked yellow sandstone with red sandstone ashlar dressings, topped by a green slate roof with a lead spire. The church comprises a nave and chancel, a north-eastern transept, a south-eastern vestry, and a south-western porch.

The south front features six bays, with a gabled porch in the second bay from the left, containing a central pointed arch with chamfered reveals and a continuous hood mould. A cusped lancet window sits above the arch, also with a red sandstone ashlar surround. The returns have quatrefoil openings and battered buttresses. To the left of the porch is a two-light window, and to the right are three loosely perpendicular windows, each featuring three cusped lancets with quatrefoils above and hood moulds. Buttresses separate each window, with a single offset towards the top. A lean-to vestry adjoins the right side with a four-light mullioned window featuring a central King-mullion and a doorway with a chamfered reveal, hood mould, and foliate end stops. A single lancet window is located on the vestry’s return. The vestry’s chimneystack has buttresses on its west and south sides, with the southern buttress topped by a gablet. A steeple rises from the west end of the ridge, featuring a hipped lower section of green slate with a leaded louvred opening above, topped by a splay-footed spire and a weather vane.

The north front has a battered buttress to the far right and a single cusped lancet window to its left. Four windows are situated to the left of this, with a string course running at sill level and a continuous hood mould. The three windows to the right consist of cusped lancets, and the window to the left mirrors the style of the south front. The transept to the left includes a three-light window of cusped lancets, with two trefoils above and a bullseye at the apex, all within a hooded mould with figurehead label stops. The west front features two lancets and a single cusped lancet to the gable.

The chancel’s north and south fronts each have two-light windows with cusped lights and quatrefoils at their apexes, both incorporating hood moulds with figurehead label stops. The east end showcases a central three-light window with quatrefoils above, a cinquefoil at the apex, and a hood mould with figurehead label stops, as well as a single lancet to the gable.

Inside, the lower walls are lined with red vitreous bricks, extending to below the window sill level. The windows have splayed reveals. Red sandstone ashlar corbels support six trusses featuring arched braces connecting to the principals and collars, which bear crown posts. The chancel arch is constructed of ashlar with chamfered reveals and ovolo mouldings, and the chancel roof is barrel-shaped. Sedilia are located at the eastern end of the south wall. Two brass wall tablets flank the east window, displaying the Credo and Lord's Prayer on the left and the Ten Commandments on the right.