Church Of St John (Methodist)

The Church of St John is a Methodist church with ancillary rooms, built between 1890 and 1891 by William Waddington & Son, a firm known for designing non-conformist churches. The structure is made of coursed rubble with red sandstone dressings and features diminishing Westmoreland and slate roofs. The church is aligned north-south and includes a southwest steeple over the porch, a storeyed northwest porch, a nave, transepts, and an apsidally-ended chancel flanked by vestries. Attached to the church is a small meeting hall, also apsidally-ended, aligned east-west.

The exterior showcases round-headed windows throughout, with simple tracery on the front windows and steeple. The entrance front is striking, featuring an octagonal southwest steeple with a tower of four unequal storeys primarily made of red sandstone, alternating between blank windows and belfry openings. The spire has gabled lucarnes and rises from the storeyed porch, which has a gabled roof on two sides and large two-light windows at the gallery level. A large round-headed doorway with several orders leads into the church, complemented by a very large tripartite window in red sandstone for the nave, with a smaller three-light window below. There is a slender southeast octagonal turret, and continuous sill and impost bands run throughout the building. The southeast porch is recessed and features a doorway similar to that of the southwest porch, set beneath simple lancets. Other elevations have simple single or paired tall lancets. The transept and chancel, which has a canted apse, along with the vestries and meeting hall, create an interesting grouping when viewed from the northwest.

Inside, the church features an end gallery with a panelled frontal and an impressive coffered and coved roof, with moulded ties and king posts, and a pseudo ridge-piece made up of ventilators. The coffered panels include decorative plasterwork, and the chancel has blind round-headed niches between the windows. Furnishings consist of simple benches with shaped ends, a stone front panelled pulpit, and a boarded dado. The church is adorned with coloured patterned glass throughout.

St John's Church stands as the only major architectural highlight in the central part of Hindley, showcasing design elements of significant originality.