Church of St Wilfrid is a Grade II* listed building in the Preston local planning authority area, England. Church. 1 related planning application.

Church of St Wilfrid

WRENN ID
worn-footing-lichen
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Preston
Constituency
Preston MP: Sir Mark Hendrick (Lab)
Country
England
Type
Church
Address
Church of St Wilfrid, Chapel Street, PR1 8BU
OS grid reference
SD 537 292
Coordinates
53.7573, -2.70273
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: sale history · EPC · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St Wilfrid is a Roman Catholic church, initially built in 1793 and significantly rebuilt between 1879 and 1880 by Ignatius Scoles and S.J. Nichols. The church is constructed from red brick with extensive buff terracotta cladding and dressings, and has a slate roof. It comprises a north-south oriented nave, east and west aisles, east chapels, and a south apse, designed in an Italian basilica style.

The church has six bays and tall aisles. A high plinth is dressed with sandstone, above which the walls are of rusticated terracotta, incorporating bands, a frieze, and a cornice of matching material. The gabled north front is tripartite, with the centre projecting slightly. It features a large round-headed doorway with an elaborate terracotta surround, including a tympanum with reliefs, and flanking side doors of similar design. Above the doorway is a large circular window flanked by monograms, set beneath an enriched pediment. Aisle windows are also present, each of two round-headed lights, with ornate terracotta surrounds. The west side of the church has high-set round-headed windows with similarly elaborate terracotta surrounds.

The interior features a basilica form, with colonnades of massive Corinthian columns in polished red marble, underpinned by square plinths of black marble. The ceiling is barrel-vaulted and coffered. The walls and apse are clad in marble, in a variety of colours, with giant Corinthian pilasters. Mosaic portraits of saints are positioned over the arcade leading to the chapels. A canted north gallery is present, featuring an ornamental cast-iron balustrade.

Local climate

Church of St Wilfrid sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,300 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 92% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 32 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 60% of listed buildings. Of these, 14 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.

More on this building

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  • Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
  • Sale history — 3 transactions since 2002
  • Related listed building consents — 1 application
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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