Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist is a Grade II listed church located on Market Street in Atherton. Built in 1879 by the architectural firm Paley and Austin, it features dressed stone, ashlar dressings, and a clay tile roof. The church is designed in the Gothic Revival style, specifically the Decorated style, and consists of a nave, clerestory, aisles, a south-west tower, and a chancel flanked by a side chapel and a two-storey vestry.

The structure has a five-bay nave and a two-bay chancel, all under a continuous roof. The aisles are supported by weathered buttresses and have four-light windows with Decorated tracery and hoodmoulds on the south side, while the north side features three-light flat-headed windows. The clerestory has square lights, and the chancel boasts a six-light transomed window adorned with fleuron motifs in a chequered panel. An enriched statue niche is found in the buttress to the right of the chancel. The two-storey organ chamber and vestry include an octagonal corner turret, and the west end has a seven-light window. The building is topped with coped gables and an eaves parapet.

A prominent feature is the four-stage castellated tower located outside the south aisle, which has octagonal piers at each corner that rise into conically roofed pinnacles. It includes a four-light window above the entrance, clock faces on the third stage, and three-light belfry openings beneath a statue in a canopied niche.

Inside, the church is supported by clustered columns with moulded capitals and bases, which hold up a double-chamfered nave arcade, all faced in ashlar. The roof is made of hammer-beam trusses. Notable interior features include sedilia, a piscina, timberwork such as stalls, pews, organ casing, and an intricately carved choir screen. The church also contains an alabaster font and a stone pulpit, as well as stained glass, including the east window designed by Kempe in 1896. This imposing building showcases exceptional craftsmanship both inside and out.