Church of St John the Evangelist

Church of St John the Evangelist

A parish church built in 1870 by G.E. Street, commissioned by Marian, Viscountess Alford, in memory of her son, the second Earl Brownlow, who died in 1867. The church stands in the newly created parish of Lyneal-cum-Colemere, which was carved out of the parishes of Ellesmere and Welshampton in 1869.

The building is constructed of snecked and tooled yellow limestone ashlar with red sandstone ashlar bands. Machine tile roofs with stepped coped verges are decorated with ornamental ceramic cresting to the chancel, which terminates in a floriated Celtic cross to the gable end. The architectural style is Early Decorated.

The church comprises a nave and chancel in one, with a bellcote at the junction, a north-east vestry and a south-east organ chamber. The south side of the nave features two paired trefoil-headed lancets with quatrefoils above, set beneath a moulded cill band and chamfered plinth. A triple-chamfered pointed doorway in slight projection has two orders of shafts and bell capitals. The west end has three stepped cusped lancets with hoodmoulds and a moulded cill band, with incised diamond-shaped patterns above the outer windows. The north side displays three broad paired trefoil-headed lancets with quatrefoils above. A gabled bellcote contains twin cusped openings with a bell to the south opening and an iron cross to the gable.

The chancel's south wall features a cinquefoil-headed lancet. The east window contains geometrical tracery in five lights with a hoodmould and square label-stops. Stepped angle buttresses flank the south-east corner. The north lean-to vestry runs the full length of the chancel, slightly overlapping the nave, with a prominent gabled dormer breaking the eaves. The dormer contains tall paired cusped lancets with a quatrefoil above and a moulded cill band. A pointed doorway with hoodmould faces east. The west wall of the chancel has a cinquefoil-headed lancet with a cusped trefoil above, while the east wall displays broad trefoil-headed paired lancets. A stack at the roof slope at the junction with the chancel has three stages and pierced Gothic tracery to the gable. The south lean-to organ chamber also overlaps the nave with a dormer matching that in the vestry and a pointed doorway to the west with hoodmould and square label-stops. The east and west walls of the organ chamber have cinquefoil-headed lancets with cusped trefoils above and a moulded cill band terminating in square label-stops. A late 19th-century cast-iron pump with fluted top, curved handle and decorated spout is fixed to the east wall.

The interior reveals exposed stone throughout. The nave has a trussed rafter roof, while the chancel has a canted and boarded roof. A moulded and chamfered pointed chancel arch frames the space. A low stone screen with blind quatrefoils separates the nave from the raised chancel. A circular stone pulpit with pierced pointed quatrefoils set in lozenges is integral to this composition, projecting to the west on the north side. Pointed arches lead to the lean-tos immediately to the west of the screen, and also in the chancel, where they are filled by wooden parclose screens with geometrical tracery and doors to the east.

The raised sanctuary contains a trefoil-headed piscina and two cinquefoil-headed sedilia in its south wall. An uncusped trefoil-headed doorway opens to the north, leading to the vestry. Decorated wrought-iron communion rails with a wooden handrail protect the sanctuary. The stone reredos comprises a triptych with a carved Crucifixion panel to the centre and floral motifs above, flanked by glazed wall tiles depicting corn and vine in vases on either side of the altar. Encaustic floor tiles extend throughout, with representations of birds and lions in the chancel and green glaze to undecorated tiles in the sanctuary.

At the west end of the nave stands a circular font with small plate tracery panels alternating with rosettes in circular recesses below, a moulded plinth and fluting under the basin. The pews and choir stalls are also likely by Street, as are the cast-iron and brass sconces attached to the choir stalls and those fixed to the pulpit. A brass lectern and oil lamps in the nave are contemporary. Stained glass in the south-east window of the nave commemorates Louis Belson, who died in 1874. A brass plate on the north wall records the building of the church. The vestry contains a small iron-bound chest and an infilled fireplace with a trefoil-headed surround.