Church of St John the Evangelist

The Church of St John the Evangelist, also known previously as Kirkthwaite Chapel and Cowgill Chapel, is a church built between 1837 and 1838. It is constructed from coursed sandstone rubble and features a slate roof in the Early English style. The church has a six-bay nave with a west bellcote and a short one-bay chancel that includes an attached vestry at the north angle.

On the exterior, the church has simple buttresses that rise to three-quarters of the height of the walls. Each bay, except for the first, contains a tall lancet window. The first bay is wider and features a gabled wooden porch that protects a two-centred arched doorway. Atop the ridge is a square slated bellcote with wooden louvres and a steep pyramidal roof topped with a weathervane. The west gable includes a short central buttress flanked by lancets and an oculus positioned above and between them. The chancel boasts a stepped triple-lancet window on the east side.

Inside, the church has a single vessel with a very small sanctuary, plastered walls, and scissor roof trusses with kingposts. There are pitch-pine benches and an organ located in the southeast corner. The south wall features three arched marble wall monuments dedicated to members of the Elam family, including Robert Elam, John Elam, and Catherine and Lucy Elam, all of whom were associated with Thorns Hall. The north wall has a sculpted wall monument with a seated angel, inscribed "G.Nelson, Sculp.", commemorating Anne Blackmore, her father Paul Nixon, and George Nelson, the sculptor, along with a smaller monument for Dora Blackmore.

Historically, the church was the subject of Professor Adam Sedgwick's 1868 work "A Memorial to Cowgill Chapel," which advocated for the preservation of the ancient name of Cowgill. The church forms a group with associated gate piers.