Blackpool: Christ Church
Overview
Grid reference: SD 307 365
Although the church was built in two, or perhaps three, stages, it seems all to follow one plan, however strange that may be. The exterior appearance is rather non-conformist, with a high west window which suggests a gallery within and a row of four cross-gables along the north side running up to a broad transept with two levels of windows which again suggest a gallery.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Nave with north and south aisles of four bays, broad transepts and north-west tower: chancel with vestries to the north and south.
Description of Archaeology and History
The church was designed by the Manchester architect John Medland Taylor and was built in 1866 at a cost of £4,600. In 1871 it became parochial. It replaced an iron church erected on the same site in 1861. Taylor was one of the architects best described in Goodhart Rendel's word as "rogues". They are seldom dull. In Taylor's architecture it is possible to find outstanding examples of High Victorian panache and equally examples of the sort of architecture which until quite recently gave the word "Victorian" a bad reputation. The church was opened in May 1868 and consecrated by the Bishop of Manchester in 1870. In 1873 the aisles were added at a cost of £2,400. The debt was finally cleared by a Bazaar held in August 1880. The transopts are dated 1895, but this may only refer to a restoration or repair.
Exterior Description
Although the church was built in two, or perhaps three, stages, it seems all to follow one plan, however strange that may be. The exterior appearance is rather non-conformist, with a high west window which suggests a gallery within and a row of four cross-gables along the north side running up to a broad transept with two levels of windows which again suggest a gallery. The west front of the church is arranged with the nave gable in the middle with a broad doorway framed by receding brick arches below. This originally had a central column and a trumeau with a sexfoil pierced through it, but quite recently this has been removed. In the gable above is a broad window of four trefoiled lancets of equal height under three roundels. The two smaller of these enclose quatefoils and the fourth, which enclosed a sexfoil, has been bricked up. The wall surface is of panels of cobble interspersed irregularly amongst unevenly spaced rows of red and black bricks. To the south a buttress capped by an ungainly pinnacle divides the nave from the west end of the south aisle. This has two lancets in the west wall and a hipped roof. The south wall of the church is mainly concealed by nearby buildings. It has lancet lights for the aisle and groups of lancets in the transept.
To the north of the nave gable is the tower. This is of three stages of which the lower two are taken together externally and have buttresses with unevenly spaced off-sets. There is a thickening of the north wall between the buttresses to provide a recessed doorway and in the west wall two stepped lancets show the existence of a staircase. The middle stage has a lancet in each of the visible faces and the top stage has two lancets in each face with big, widely-spaced louvres. Several rows of notched bricks then form a base for the pyramidal slated roof.
The north wall of the church, as already stated, has four cross gables along the aisle, each with two lancets and a trefoil or quatrefoil set within recessed stone plate tracery. Then follows a broad gable for the transept with four lancets in the lower part and a large roundel above, with trefoils and quatrefoils arranged in a circular pattern punched in plate tracery, also of stone. East of the transept is a circular turret which houses the staircase to the cransept gallery and this is capped with a slated and lead covered conical roof giving a jaunty French air to this part of the building. Beside it is a low polygonal vestry and then comes the chancel with lancets in the north wall and an east wall facing a narrow alley but nevertheless decorated with motifs such as a Celtic cross on black bricks against the red below the five-light plate-traceried east window.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
1898
The east window has five lights representing The Ascension, by Alexander Gibbs and Company.
Stained Glass
1897
North transept north: four lancets; The Good Shepherd, The Lilies of the Field, Christ with Martha and Mary, and Christ Ministered to by Angels, 1897 by Alexander Gibbs and Company.
Stained Glass
North transept east : one light , Be Thou Faithful Unto Death, showing Christ awarding a faithful woman with a crown of life, by Gibbs
Stained Glass
1901
South transept: four lancets with The Four Evangelists, single figures under canopies all of rather Germanic appearance, by Seward and Company of Lancaster.
Stained Glass
1903
North aisle I : And He brought Him to James, two lights, 1903 by Swaine, Bourne a Son, Brighton and London.
Stained Glass
1901
North aisle west; The Light of the World.
Stained Glass
1925
South aisle I : The Angel and the Marys at the Sepulchre, by Shrigley and Hunt.
Stained Glass
1920
South aisle II : The Risen Christ with Mary Magdalene in the Garden and An Angel giving a Palm to a dying soldier, the War Memorial window, by Curtis Ward and Hughes.
Interior
Interior Description
The basic plan of the building is fairly straightforward, with a broad nave flanked by aisles and wide, shallow transepts. At the west end of the nave is a gallery below which a room has been formed with wooden frames containing plate glass panels. The light chiefly comes from the large west window and from the aisle windows but since there is no clerestory and the nave is very wide, the interior is not well lit. The arcades consist of short iron columns with spiral bands in relief, cach with a simple iron capital, carrying plastered arches which have one chamfer above the pillars (i.e. quite low in the building) the nave roof begins. It is a variant of the hammerbeam design with timber brackets coming out to support vertical posts and big braces which rise to tie beams set quite high. These, between a lesser pair of arch braces, have chamfered kingposts. Just to complicate matters a little further, the upper arch braces do not simply meet at the head of the kingposts they cross over, forming mini-scissor-braces. Another small but irritating feature is that the lower part of the nave roof is at a loss steep pitch than the rest, so that it parts company with the principal timbers and gives a slight bell-chamber to the profile of the roof. Some timbers are chamfered, others not; some are clearly bolted together, others are not.
The north aisle has a tie-beam at each bay with a chamfered kingpost flanked by arch braces. Again because the woodwork starts so low in the building there is plenty of scope for invention. At the head of the kingpost runs the horizontal beam which forms the base of the valley between each pair of cross-gables. The south aisle is quite different. It does not have cross-gables but is covered by a gabled roof running parallel with the nave.
The eastern part of the nve opens north and south into transepts. Although these are under single broad gables outside, they are of two bays towards the nave, with arches taller and broader than those between the nave and aisles. Within the transepts are galleries approached by stairs on the eastern sides. The chancel arch is wide and is supported on corbels at each side. It has only a narrow chamber along each edge. On the north side the pulpit has been altered; it is now approached by steps from the alley at the front of the transept, but it was originally approached by an arch through the wall from the vestry behind. This arch has squat colonettes with big foliated capitals and an arch with a roll-moulding framing a roundel.
The chancel roof is boarded and divided into panels by moulded strips and the east window has more orthodox tracery than any other window in this church.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
1932
Oak in an Art Nouveau style
Reredos
All of oak, with simple panel tracery at the head of each bay.
Pulpit
1935
Oak, featuring panels with unorthodox blind tracery and a cornice carved with vine trail.
Lectern
A hieratic eagle.
Font (object)
Octagonal, of stone on a short quatrefoil drum with incised texts and symbols round the bowl.
Organ (object)
The organ is a three-manual instrument restored as a War Memorial in 1945.
Churchyard
Grid reference: SD 307 365
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
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