Church Of St John The Evangelist

The Church of St John the Evangelist is an Anglican parish church dating from 1846, designed by T.H. Wyatt and D. Brandon. It is constructed of dressed limestone with a Welsh slate roof featuring coped verges. The church is laid out with a gabled south porch, a north tower, a nave, and a chancel.

The south porch has a moulded pointed doorway, and an inner chamfered pointed doorway with double doors fitted with ornamental strap hinges. The nave has two-light Perpendicular windows to the right of the porch and one to the left, all featuring foliage terminals to the hoodmoulds. The chancel has two cusped ogee-headed lancets to the south, along with diagonal buttresses. The east window is a cusped lancet, and the north side has a pointed doorway.

The two-stage north tower incorporates diagonal buttresses. It has a large cusped lancet with foliage terminals to the hoodmould on both the north and east sides of the lower stage. The bellstage features two-light Perpendicular windows with quatrefoil-pierced stone louvres. A broach spire rises above, featuring roll-moulded ribs and gabled openings. A polygonal stair turret is attached to the right, including a chamfered pointed doorway, originally offering access to a former family pew belonging to the Long family. The north side of the nave has three two-light Perpendicular windows mirroring those on the south side, and the west end displays a four-light Perpendicular window with mask terminals to the hoodmould.

Inside, the nave roof is characterised by 4-bay deep arch-braced scissor trusses with trefoil cusping to the apex, along with collar trusses to half-bays also bearing cusping. A gallery is situated on the south side of the tower, overlooking the east end of the nave, and incorporating a quatrefoiled panelled front. A moulded pointed chancel arch leads to a chancel featuring a 2-bay scissor truss roof supported by carved stone angels, curved windbracing, and exposed rafters. Original pews and choir stalls are present, alongside a stone polygonal pulpit and a carved stone octagonal font with quatrefoiled panels. A wooden communion rail is also included. The stained glass in the east window is a 1919 war memorial in a pictorial style, designed by H. Wilson and crafted by Powells. There is a collection of brass memorial plaques commemorating the Longs of Rood Ashton. A white marble monument in the nave is dedicated to Walter Long and his wife, both of whom died in 1847, depicting a relief scene of a woman with an angel and a child, and executed by H. Timbrell in Rome. The church is situated on the edge of the landscaped Rood Ashton Park.