Church Of St Luke

The Church of St Luke is a parish church dating to 1848, with a tower added in 1854 and a chancel extension in 1873. It was designed by Frederick and Horace Francis. The church is constructed from coursed and squared stone with Welsh slate roofs, featuring ridge-cresting.

The plan includes a west tower, a nave with two aisles, and a chancel with vestries. The massive three-stage west tower has a stair turret projecting at the southwest corner and substantial angle buttresses. A doorway is accessed by steps, with engaged shafts leading to a moulded archway. Above the doorway is a three-light window and, in the upper stage, triple bell chamber lights. The tower features a traceried parapet with statues of saints on eagle corbels. The aisles have five bays separated by buttresses featuring three- and two-light Decorated windows with reticulated tracery, and a gabled porch with engaged shafts to a moulded arch on the south side. A two-storey gabled vestry adjoins the north aisle to the east. The chancel has a five-light Decorated east window, is heavily buttressed (the buttresses adorned with crocketed gablets on corbel heads), and includes two high-level two-light windows on the south side, with a continuous cill band. A small, blocked doorway is located on the south side.

Inside, a five-bay arcade features octagonal piers supporting triple chamfered arches with corbel heads. The roof has steep arch bracing with wall posts sprung from corbels to the principal trusses. A steep arch leads to the tower, filled with a glazed traceried screen added in 1949. A clustered shaft with foliate capitals defines the chancel arch. The chancel roof features steep, closely spaced arch-braced trusses with a boarded sanctuary. The interior of the chancel boasts a rich decorative scheme including an openwork timber screen with a triangular central arch flanked by segmental arches with foiled tracery, angels on newel posts, and a rich vine-scroll decoration to the canopy. The sanctuary is characterized by richly worked wall-panelling incorporating linen fold with low-relief tracery. An integral sedilia is located to the south of a reredos by J.D. Sedding, dating from 1874. The reredos features outer traceried panels with low-relief sculptures – the Nativity and Resurrection flanked by saints in niches – along with painted stone. The wall paneling is further embellished with low-relief lilies. The case of the Jardine organ (dating to 1861, with casing from 1903) is similarly adorned. Encaustic tiles are laid in the sanctuary. Choir stalls, likely dating to around 1874, include angels carved on the bench ends.

The church contains stained glass by various artists in differing styles. Windows in the south aisle and lady chapel feature a medieval style with small narrative emblems in a richly coloured ground (1860 and 1862, by Warrington), a pictorial style (1890), and a Pre-Raphaelite style (1884, by Powell). The chancel south window contains a pictorial memorial window, reportedly based on a photograph. A window in the east side is by Wailes, in a medieval style with pictorial emblems. Pictorial windows in the north aisle, one dated 1891, are unsigned.

The church was generously endowed by prominent local families, and numerous fittings were provided as memorials to their members.