A church on the site was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. A later church was built in the 14th century and its chancel was rebuilt in 1680 and again in 1795.[3] The present church dates from 1842 to 1844 when the body of the church was replaced, and the tower and spire were repaired, the architect being Edmund Sharpe of Lancaster. The nave was lengthened by one bay, heightened and widened, and galleries were inserted on three sides.[4] The tower was damaged when it was struck by lightning on 16 July 1850.[3] A new tower was designed by Sharpe and his partner at the time, E. G. Paley.[5] The chancel and transepts date from 1870 by the later partners in the practice, Paley and Austin.[6]
Architecture
Exterior
The church is built in red sandstoneashlar with a slate roof. Its plan consists of a west tower, a five-bay nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, a chancel with a north vestry and a south chantry chapel, and a southwest porch. The tower has an octagonal spire with three tiers of lucarnes.[1]
Interior
In the chancel is a two-arched sedilia. The reredos contains an alabasterrelief depicting The Last Supper.[1] The monuments in the church include ones to William Tomkinson who died in 1770 by Benjamin Bromfield, to Mrs France who died in 1814 by S. and F. Franceys of Liverpool, to Mrs Harper dated 1833 by Francesco Pozzi of Florence with a relief of a mother and child, and to Frederick and Cecil France-Hayhurst who died in 1915, by Underwood. In the south aisle is a war memorial chapel designed by Sir Robert Lorimer. It contains a reredos with carvings of personifications of virtues, framed by carved friezes, and posts surmounted by angels. There are stained glass windows by David Evans of Shrewsbury dating from the early 19th century, and by J. C. Bewsey dated 1932.[7] There is a ring of six bells. Four of these, dated 1757, 1761 (2), and 1765 are by Rudhall of Gloucester and a bell dated 1826 is by Thomas Mears II of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. The sixth bell, which is undated, is by William Noone.[8]
External features
In the churchyard is a table tomb to the memory of William Worthington of Leftwich, a merchant who died in 1808, and members of his family. It is listed at Grade II.[9] Also listed Grade II is the lych gate which dates from the late 19th century,[10] and was designed by E. G. Paley.[11] Also in the churchyard is a memorial to the Russell Allen family, with dates including 1927, also by Lorimer.[7]
The churchyard contains 18 war graves of British service personnel, 13 from World War I, and five from World War II.[12]
Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon: English Heritage, ISBN978-1-84802-049-8
Hughes, John M. (2010), Edmund Sharpe: Man of Lancaster, John M. Hughes
Price, James (1998), Sharpe, Paley and Austin: A Lancaster Architectural Practice 1836–1942, Lancaster: Centre for North-West Regional Studies, ISBN1-86220-054-8
