Christ Church was built between 1855 and 1857 to a design by the London architect Henry Martin.[3] It was built as a chapel for
Lancaster Grammar School and the local
workhouse.[1] The church was paid for and endowed by
Samuel Gregson, a local industrialist and
MP.[2] In 1889 a south
aisle was added, designed by the local architects
Paley and Austin. It provided 152 seats, and cost about £1,000.[4] In 1894–95 a west
baptistry was added by the same practice, then known as
Paley, Austin and Paley.[5] The same practice (by now
Austin and Paley) converted the organ chamber into the Storey chapel, the organ having been moved into the south
transept.[6] In 1919 a war memorial was installed in the churchyard. It was in
Derbyshire stone, 25 feet (8 m) high, and cost £400. This was designed by
Henry Paley, then trading as
Austin, Paley and Austin.[7]
Architecture
Exterior
The church is constructed in squared
coursedsandstone and has
slate roofs. Its plan consists of a nave, a west baptistry, a north porch, a north transept, a north
vestry, a
chancel with a lower roof, a south aisle with a chapel, and a south porch. At the west end is a pair of
turrets. Most of the windows in the church have pointed arches and contain
Geometrictracery. The turrets have square bases that
broach to octagons. The bell openings are
gabled and above them are spirelets. At the west end of the nave is a five-light window containing
Perpendicular tracery. Beneath the window and between the turrets is the baptistry.[2] Springing from the baptistry are
gargoyles.[3] At the west end of the south aisle is a three-light window. The south aisle is in six
bays separated by
buttresses. Five of the bays contain two-light windows with
trefoil heads. The sixth bay, probably the site of an earlier transept, contains a three-light window. On the north side of the church is a porch, with one bay to the west and three bays to the east, all with two-light windows. In the north transept, the north window has three lights, and the west window two lights. The north wall of the vestry contains a four-light
mullioned window and a doorway; the east wall has two two-light windows. In the east wall of the chancel is a three-light window; the south aisle and chapel each have two-light windows, and in the south wall of the chapel are two two-light windows.[2]
Interior
Between the nave and the south aisle is a four-bay
arcade. The
font, dating from 1914, is made from sandstone and
marble. It has a wooden cover, carved as a
Gothic spire. Over this is a
wrought iron crane with an ornate arm.[2][3] The
reredos is in marble and dates from 1916.[3] Some of the stained glass was made in the middle of the 19th century by
Powell.[2] Elsewhere there is a "magnificent scheme" of stained glass by
Carl Almquist and
E. H. Jewitt of
Shrigley and Hunt, installed between 1892 and 1909, described in the Buildings of England series as "one of their best and most important ensembles".[3][8] The three-
manual organ was installed in 1857, and was rebuilt, enlarged and moved into the north transept in 1937 by Henry Ainscough of
Preston.[9]
External features
To the north of the church is a sandstone war memorial dating from 1919. It has been designated as a Grade II listed building.[6][10]
Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon:
English Heritage,
ISBN978-1-84802-049-8