Church Of St John The Evangelist

The Church of St John the Evangelist is a church, now disused, constructed between 1788 and 1790, with additions made in 1872 by W. Palmer. It is built of brick with stone dressings and has a slate roof topped with ridge cresting. The church comprises a west tower, nave and aisles, and a chancel. The four-stage tower has blind lower openings and a housing for a clock above. The bell chamber is lit by windows and has a castellated parapet, unique for its panels of cast iron, bolted together and with flanges bolted to the masonry. Neo-classical doorways are located on the north side of the north wall, both east and west. There are four lower windows and six clerestory windows, some featuring contemporary cast iron windows with intersecting tracery. The frames incorporate horizontal bars of wrought iron to support leaded light fixings. The chancel is square-ended with a shallow polygonal apse. Vestries are located to the east of the aisles and are a later addition.

Inside, most fittings and fixtures have been removed, but a gallery remains, supported on slender cast-iron columns with plain capitals, and with a panelled fascia. Exposed roof trusses are visible, supported by massive tie beams, with later casings, added struts, and diagonally boarded panels to the underside of the roof slopes. The east window contains painted glass from around 1830 depicting “Our Lord Blessing”, showing Christ in purple robes beneath a Gothic canopy. Flanking windows also date from about 1830. The bell chamber houses a peal of ten bells; the original eight bells were cast by E. Arnold of Leicester in 1791, with two additions in 1891. All were re-cast and rehung from a contemporary bellframe in 1923.

This building is of exceptional historical significance due to the presence of early cast-iron structural and decorative components, particularly the gallery columns, window frames and castellated parapet. These components are considered among the earliest of their kind used in any building in Britain, with only those at St James’, Liverpool, being identified as earlier (1774-5). The church possesses group value in this regard.