Jesus Church

Jesus Church, Troutbeck

Parish church originally built in 1562, with a west tower added in 1736 and remodelled in the mid-19th century.

The church is constructed of slate-stone rubble with freestone dressings and a slate roof. It comprises a nave and chancel under a single roof with a west tower.

The tower dates to 1736 and is three stages high with an unbuttressed design and an embattled parapet with raised merlons at the angles. The lower stage contains a segmental-headed doorway with a rubble-stone head and boarded doors, with a date tablet above. The second stage has triple round-headed lights under a relieving arch, while the upper stage features simple square-headed bell openings with louvres and clocks on the west and south faces, dated 1867. A lean-to service room has been added to the north side.

The main body of the church preserves 16th-century fabric but was remodelled in plain 19th-century Gothic style. The exterior has six pointed windows in the south wall and seven in the north wall, with a five-light Perpendicular east window. A south priest's doorway retains a studded door with strap hinges dating to around the 1820s and incorporates a horizontal sliding vent.

The interior presents the nave and chancel as a unified space. The tie-beam roof features diagonal struts and two purlins on each side and likely dates to 1562. A boarded door leads from the tower base into the nave, set in a chamfered wooden frame with a segmental head. Above this is an 18th-century fielded-panel gallery door with overdoor.

The west gallery, probably 18th-century, has a panelled front supported on chamfered posts. Its staircase, located in the tower base, has a newel with an acorn finial and is possibly earlier; the balusters are later boarded over. A Royal Arms painted on boards above the gallery dates to 1737. The font is a shallow octagonal bowl on a tall stem, probably 20th-century. Mid-19th-century benches with shaped ends are either numbered or labelled 'free'. A late 19th-century polygonal freestone pulpit has blind traceried panels.

The chancel contains Jacobean stalls, a communion rail, and dado made up of arched and lozenge panels brought from Calgarth Hall, Windermere. The east window was designed by Morris & Company to designs by William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, and Ford Madox Brown in 1873. A further north window of around 1897 is in pre-Raphaelite style but is unsigned.

The church is said to have been consecrated in 1562 and had its tower added in 1736. 19th-century repair and remodelling occurred at various dates: a repair in 1828 (approximate to the priest's doorway), restoration in 1879, and remodelling of the nave and chancel around 1850 according to the church guide. The walls are plastered, and floors are paved with stone with raised floorboards below the pews.