Church of the Holy Spirit is a Grade II listed building in the Cumberland local planning authority area, England. First listed on 9 August 1984. Church.

Church of the Holy Spirit

WRENN ID
old-trefoil-foxglove
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Cumberland
Constituency
Whitehaven and Workington MP: Josh MacAlister (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
9 August 1984
Type
Church
Address
Church of the Holy Spirit, Church Road, Distington
OS grid reference
NY 004 236
Coordinates
54.59774, -3.54274
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of the Holy Spirit is a parish church built in 1886 by Hay & Henderson, replacing a medieval church. It is constructed of snecked rubble with quoins on a chamfered plinth and features stepped buttressing. The church has steeply pitched graduated slate roofs with stone copings, kneelers, and apex crosses, along with decorative ridge tiles. There is a corniced stone octagonal chimney on the north side of the chancel. The building consists of a 4-bay nave and a 2-bay chancel, with a low tower offset to the south. The west end has three lancet windows with a cinquefoil above. The south porch, located in the second bay from the west, has a moulded, pointed arch. The aisle windows are paired lancets, and the nave clerestory windows feature plate tracery with three quatrefoils under pointed arches. There are lancet windows on the north side of the chancel, and the south side has a three-stage tower that incorporates a vestry. The east window consists of five stepped lancets with nook shafts.

Inside, the pointed nave arcade is supported by polished granite piers with foliate capitals, which were carved in 1897. The roof trusses spring from corbels and include decorative tie-beams. The chancel arch is moulded and rests on corbels. The chancel contains a three-seater sedilia with a piscina and an aumbry. The ornate altar is carved with interlaced arcading and features angels in niches. There is a polygonal pulpit that is also carved with scenes from the Bible. A bowl-shaped marble font is located on a pillar at the west end, alongside an octagonal stone font from the earlier church, dated 1662. The stained glass is by Powell & Co.

Local climate

Church of the Holy Spirit sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,540 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 99% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 99% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 21 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 78% of listed buildings. Of these, 9 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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