Church of St John the Evangelist

Church of St John the Evangelist

Parish church in Sheffield on Ranmoor Park Road. The south-west tower and spire date to 1879, designed by E M Gibbs. The remainder of the church was built in 1887 by the architectural partnership Flockton & Gibbs, following the destruction of an earlier church by fire. A north-east vestry was added around 1900. The building was restored in 1973. The reredos, carving and architectural sculpture are by Frank Tory.

The church is constructed of rock-faced Upper Carboniferous sandstone with Ancaster limestone ashlar dressings. The roofs are steeply pitched in slate and lead. The design follows the Gothic Revival style.

The building comprises an apsidal chancel, transepts, vestry, nave with clerestory and aisles, narthex, baptistry, north-west porch, and south-west tower with spire.

The exterior features a plinth, sillband and corbel table. Gables are shouldered and coped with crosses. Buttresses are gabled. Pointed arch windows throughout include a central three-light window to the chancel flanked by two similar two-light windows with geometrical tracery and linked hoodmoulds. The transepts contain three-light lancet windows with wheel windows above, and two-light windows on their east sides, the north window partly covered by the vestry. The single-storey vestry has five two-light windows to the north, a double door and two-light window to the east. The five-bay nave has five pairs of two-light clerestory windows on each side. The west gable has a wheel window with a small graduated lancet above it. Below stands a canted baptistry with three lancets, flanked on each side by a two-light window. Buttressed octagonal turrets topped with spires stand on either side. The aisles have five two-light windows, two to the north-east partly covered by the vestry. The north aisle has a stone side wall stack. The north-west porch has a wheel window and below it a glazed double door. The three-stage south-west tower has string courses and four pinnacles. A heavily moulded south doorway sits beneath a traceried gable. The returns have single lancets. The second stage features a three-light blind arcade on each side with shafts and linked hoodmould. The bell stage has a traceried two-light opening on each side under small gables. The setback octagonal spire has two tiers of gabled lucarnes and a weathercock.

The interior features a painted vault to the chancel with moulded wooden ribs and wall shafts, and a roll moulded arch with triple shafts and hoodmould. A cusped blind arcade runs on all sides, with sedilia on each side and a triple gabled canopy to a high-relief alabaster reredos. The transepts have painted single-bay vaults. The north transept contains the organ. The south transept has a similar arch with a round central pier and double inner arch with quatrefoil in the spandrel, and a traceried wooden screen. Above the transept arches runs a five-bay graduated blind arcade. The nave has five-bay arcades with round piers, foliate capitals and moulded arches. The triforium has four arches in each bay, the bays defined by ringed shafts. The roof is arch-braced principal rafter with wall shafts and traceried spandrels, with a ceiling featuring painted panels. The west end has a large central arch flanked by single smaller arches, with triforium and wheel window above. The aisles have moulded arches to the west and arch-braced roofs with wall shafts and traceried spandrels. The south aisle has a moulded eastern arch into the transept. The north aisle has a double doorway to the vestry and a moulded east arch containing the organ. The narthex has a moulded arch at each end and an arch-braced roof with panelled ceiling, traceried spandrels and wall shafts. The baptistry has a moulded arch and rib vault with shafts between the windows. The tower porch has a double chamfered doorway with hoodmould. Both porches have panelled ceilings and glazed double doors.

Fittings include stained glass by Heaton Butler & Bayne, Clayton & Bell, W F Dixon, Powell Bros. of Leeds and Victor Milner of London. An ornate ashlar and marble font has a cusped arcaded pedestal and spire cover. A square traceried oak pulpit stands on a clustered ashlar pier with marble shafts. A double-sided brass eagle lectern with buttressed twisted shaft dates to 1892. Traceried stalls and benches, some with fleur-de-lys finials, remain in place. A brass war memorial dates to 1918.