Church Of St John Evangelist

SALFORD

SD8200NE MURRAY STREET 949-1/10/85 (West side) 18/01/80 Church of St John Evangelist

II

Parish church. 1836-39. By Richard Lane. Chancel added 1846 by Gregan. Ashlar-faced with Welsh slate roof. Gothic style, reminiscent of a Commissioners' Church, but in fact a privately-endowed building. W tower and clasping porches, nave and chancel. EXTERIOR: 3-stage tower, with 3-light Decorated window, and 2-tier window and clock over. Paired bell chamber lights and embattled parapet. Angle buttresses form tall pinnacles. 2-light Decorated windows with transoms to W of porches, which have chamfered arched doors to N and S. 6-bay nave divided by buttresses, with 2-light Decorated transomed window in each bay. Embattled parapet. Chancel a later addition. Rock faced coursed and squared rubble, with steep graded slate roof. 3 bays, with Decorated windows and N vestry with stilted arched door and 5-light mullioned window. 5-light Decorated east window. Organ chamber and vestry in cross gable to S. INTERIOR: nave arcade of 6 bays with slender octagonal shafts on high bases, the original galleries now removed. Minton tiled floor. Wood-traceried panelled bench ends and dado wall panelling. Later C19 wrought-iron chancel screen, removed from Porthill, Staffordshire. Baptistery below tower with shallow arch from nave, and marble font. Internal window to tower chamber over. Chancel has richly coloured Minton encaustic floor tiles and stone-traceried reredos, flanked by tiled arched panels coloured with majolica glazes. Texts (Ten Commandments, Lord's Prayer and Credo) with embossed lettering set in decorative borders, probably late C19, Minton Hollins. Ogee-arched and crocketed tomb recess in N wall to John Clowes, the patron of the church, d1846. Stained glass by Hardman in E window, and possibly N and S chancel windows; S window with angels in quatrefoils attributed to Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. In nave, 3 N windows have glass by Gilbert Shaw, one dated 1861. Internal W window from the studio of Kempe, 1903. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: South Lancashire: Harmondsworth: 1969-: 393; Glazed Expressions (Newsletter of the Tile Society): Skinner Peter: "Wall Tiles in Churches": 1987-).

Listing NGR: SD8272000884