Christ Church

Christ Church is a parish church constructed between 1837 and 1839, originally designed by R Potter. Subsequent additions and alterations were carried out by G.G. Pace in 1953-56, circa 1963, and circa 1980. The church is built of rock-faced stone with ashlar dressings, featuring hipped and gabled slate roofs.

The plan includes a chancel, a crossing tower, a vestry, a nave with north and south aisles, a west tower, and staircase towers to the west. The chancel has a flat roof and a blank east end, with a single window and an external stack to the north, linked by an arch. The crossing tower has a four-light mullioned window to the north and south. The nave has a crenellated parapet to the north and a clasping buttress to the northwest. The south aisle has a flat roof with five three-light windows, and an east end featuring a five-light transomed window and a reset cusped round window to the west. The north aisle, a two-story structure with a flat roof, has four full-height four-light mullioned windows, divided by buttresses and transoms, with round-headed lower lights. A glazed double door provides access to the adjoining vestry, which has a four-light window to the north. The west tower is square with three stages, featuring a lancet window on the west side of the ground stage and single lancets on three sides of the second stage; all windows have hoodmoulds. The bell stage has double lancet louvred openings on each side, linked by hoodmoulds. Canted stair towers, with hipped roofs, flank the north and south sides of the tower. A single cross casement is located in the link to the north aisle. A single-story, canted north-west porch has a double door with a shallow canopy, flanked by a two-light window. A south-west porch of similar design exists.

The interior retains the original nave roof and gallery supports and much of the structural work is from the 20th century. The chancel has a pointed arch flanked by similar arches leading to side chapels. The nave has an arch-braced truss roof and a panelled organ gallery to the west, supported by four cast-iron posts. The north aisle has square skeleton piers carrying a wooden gallery and a single door to the west, with a glazed screen to the east. The south aisle has four pointed arches carried on square skeleton piers.

Fittings include a resited canted wooden pulpit on an ashlar base and a traceried panelled font, both dating to the 19th century. The font has a 20th-century cover. A brass eagle lectern, dated 1898, and various mid-20th-century fittings are also present. The west tower contains a stained glass window by A. Jeffert of Sheffield, dated 1922, and a later 20th-century window. The church is considered a significant example of the work of G.G. Pace, who served as Diocesan architect.