Church of St Cuthbert is a Grade II* listed building in the Wakefield local planning authority area, England. First listed on 25 March 1968. A Medieval Church.
Church of St Cuthbert
- WRENN ID
- first-cinder-hazel
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Wakefield
- Constituency
- Normanton and Hemsworth MP: Jon Trickett (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 25 March 1968
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Cuthbert, Purston Lane, Ackworth
- OS grid reference
- SE 440 180
- Coordinates
- 53.65735, -1.33523
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St. Cuthbert is a parish church dating from the 15th century, with substantial rebuilding in 1855 by J. W. Hugall. It is constructed of coursed squared sandstone with stone slate roofs.
The west tower is of the 15th century and features diagonal buttresses, a weathered plinth, and a wide two-centred arched west doorway with cavetto moulding and a hoodmould. A restored four-centred arched three-light window with Perpendicular tracery and a hoodmould sits above the doorway. Additional features include a recessed lancet window, recessed belfry windows with cusped lights and quatrefoils, a dripband with gargoyles, a restored embattled parapet with crocketed corner pinnacles, and a flag mast. A niche and diamond-shaped clockface are present on the south side of the tower.
The main body of the church consists of a three-bay nave with aisles, and a three-bay chancel. A gabled porch with a statue niche and a cross sits in the south aisle. The aisles have two-centred arched windows with trefoils (cinquefoils in the north aisle) and hoodmoulds. The nave has square-headed clerestory windows. The chancel features moulded two-centred arched windows and a large east window of five lights in Decorated style. A north vestry, with a north transept, includes a two-centred arched doorway with shafts and moulding, flanked by windows similar to those in the aisles.
Inside, the nave arcade has double-chamfered two-centred arches on quatrefoil piers with moulded caps. A tall chancel arch connects to the nave, and a monumental slab commemorating Sir Roger Hopton and his wife (died 1506) is set into the north aisle wall, bearing a Latin inscription and an incised cross. A wall monument to the Lowther family, housed within a Corinthian aedicule, is also present. A medieval tub font stands on a quatrefoil base, and an octagonal font with raised lettering, dated 1663, is located in the south aisle. A further monument commemorates Robert Gully, who died during the Chinese War of 1842.
Local climate
Church of St Cuthbert receives an average of 770 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 63% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 94% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 38 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 71% of listed buildings. Of these, 19 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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