Church of St Wilfrid is a Grade I listed building in the Lancaster local planning authority area, England. First listed on 4 October 1967. A Medieval Church.
Church of St Wilfrid
- WRENN ID
- pale-obsidian-hazel
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Lancaster
- Constituency
- Morecambe and Lunesdale MP: Lizzi Collinge (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 4 October 1967
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Wilfrid, Main Street, Melling-With-Wrayton
- OS grid reference
- SD 598 711
- Coordinates
- 54.13473, -2.61651
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Wilfrid is a late 15th-century church, with earlier remains dating back to around 1300. It was significantly restored in 1763, 1856, and during the 19th century. The church is constructed from sandstone rubble with a stone slate roof and incorporates a west tower, a nave with a clearstorey, a chancel under a continuous roof, north and south aisles, a south porch, and a south chapel.
The tower has diagonal buttresses and an embattled parapet. The bell openings are grouped in three pointed lights under a Tudor-arched head with a hood moulding. The west window mirrors this design. The west doorway has a pointed head with a hood moulding and is hollow-chamfered in two orders. A lancet window on the north aisle retains an outer chamfer and inner rebate. A window on the south aisle from around 1300 is a trefoiled lancet with a hood moulding. The clearstorey windows of 1856 feature two trefoiled ogee-shaped lights.
The north side features three clearstorey windows above the nave and two above the chancel. The north aisle windows are separated by buttresses; the eastern window has three trefoiled ogee lights under a flat traceried head, while the others have two trefoiled lights under a flat head with a hood moulding. A chamfered doorway and a 19th-century vestry door are also present on this side. The south aisle has two windows with two trefoiled lights and flat heads with hood mouldings.
The south chapel is flanked by buttresses with crenellated cappings and has a solid parapet with coping. Its south window features three trefoiled lights with a flat head and a hood moulding. A chamfered doorway with a pointed head is nearby. The east window of the chapel is from the 19th century, featuring three trefoiled ogee lights under a flat head with Perpendicular tracery. A similar window of two lights is present in the south wall of the chancel, and the east window of the chancel has three cusped lights under a pointed head with Perpendicular tracery.
The south porch has a gable with coping and pointed inner and outer doorways, the outer one being hollow-chamfered. Inside, the arcades have three bays to the nave and one to the chancel, featuring pointed arches chamfered in two orders, octagonal piers, and caps, although many of the mouldings on the caps have been defaced. The tower arch is pointed and chamfered in two orders, sloping into the responds. The 1763 roof incorporates king posts rising from tie beams and braced to the principals. There is no chancel arch; instead, the floor level rises towards the east end, accessed by a series of steps. The south chapel contains an aumbry without a door, and a squint in the north wall. Late 19th-century furnishings, attributed to Paley and Austin, include nave pews, screens, a pulpit, and communion rails. The aisle pews date to the 18th century, displaying raised panels and ball finials. Numerous wall tablets are present, including a memorial by Webster for Thomas Smith (died 1831). Fragments of Norman chevron ornament, a piece of a crucifix, and part of a grave slab were discovered during the restoration and incorporated into the vestry wall.
Local climate
Church of St Wilfrid sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,320 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 95% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 43 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 84% of listed buildings. Of these, 22 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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