Church Of St John The Evangelist

The Church of St John the Evangelist is a church completed in 1860-63, designed by John Douglas for Lord Delamere. It is constructed of snecked red sandstone with dressings of red sandstone ashlar and a grey slate roof. The church is in the Decorated Gothic style and comprises a nave with side aisles, a chancel, a south-western tower, and a north-eastern vestry.

The tower has three stages and a spire, with slightly set-back angle buttresses and off-sets. The south face features a two-light ground floor window with cusped lights, a chamfered surround, and a relieving arch. Canted walls to staircase turrets are located in the angles to either side of the buttress. A string course divides the stages, with a single lancet window to the second stage having a casement moulding under the hood mould, which has floral label stops. Two-light belfry openings above have louvres and cusped lancets with trefoils to the apexes, along with continuous hood moulds featuring figure-head label stops. Columns are positioned between the windows, with crocketed capitals, and larger columns are present at the corners. A corbel table sits above this, directly below the octagonal spire, which is broached with lucarnes on the main faces and a wrought iron cross finial. The west face is similar, except for a wrought iron open clock face at the level of the belfry openings. The east face is similar, except for the absence of a staircase turret.

The south front of the nave has a tower to the left and four bays to the right featuring two-light windows with ovolo moulded surrounds. Clerestory windows, also of two lights, have columns with crocket capitals to the central mullions. The north side is similar, except for a gabled porch at the right, which has an arched doorway with a hood mould and chamfered reveals. A roundel above the doorway contains a bust in relief of Jesus in the act of benediction. Clasping buttresses with off-sets are present at the corners of the porch, along with single-light cusped windows to the sides. The vestry to the left has clasping buttresses with off-sets, a triple lancet with a continuous hood mould and floral end-stops, and a rose window to the gable with a hood mould and figurehead label stops. A chimney stack rises from the centre of the gable with two flues.

The chancel’s north side is obstructed at the right by the vestry, with a single two-light window to the left, featuring cusped lights and a quatrefoil above a continuous hood mould with floral label stops. The south face has two similar windows. The east face has a central window of four cusped lights with tracery above two trefoils and a quatrefoil to the apex. Quatrefoils are present at the apex of the gable and a cross at the summit, with ashlar kneelers and coping.

The interior nave has five bays with round shafts to the aisle arcades and Decorated capitals. Ashlar voussoirs define the arches, which have double rebates. Roundels are positioned above the arches. Aisle clerestory windows have splayed window surrounds with cambered heads. Ashlar corbels support the wall posts of the trusses, which are of scissor beam construction. The chancel features stone panelling at the east end, including an alabaster model of the Last Supper.