Church of St Stephen on-the-Cliffs, Blackpool

The Church of St Stephen on-the-Cliffs is in St Stephen's Avenue, Blackpool, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Blackpool, the archdeaconry of Lancaster, and the diocese of Blackburn.[1]

Church of St Stephen on-the-Cliffs
Church of St Stephen on-the-Cliffs Location in Blackpool
Location	St Stephen's Avenue, Blackpool, Lancashire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Churchmanship	Anglo-Catholic
Website	St Stephen on-the-Cliffs, Blackpool
History
Status	Parish church
Consecrated	1927
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architect(s)	Henry Paley
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1925
Completed	2002
Specifications
Materials	Brick exterior with stone dressings Sandstone interior
Administration
Parish	St Stephen, Blackpool
Deanery	Blackpool
Archdeaconry	Lancaster
Diocese	Blackburn
Province	York
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Canon Andrew Sage
Laity
Reader(s)	Ian Shepherd
Churchwarden(s)	Dorothy Graham Ian Butterworth
Parish administrator	Anne Berry

History

St Stephen's originated as a mission church to All Hallows Church, Bispham, and was opened in 1912. It became known as "The Church on the Cliffs".[2] In 1919 St Stephen's became a parish in its own right. The mission church was too small to accommodate its growing congregation, and money was raised to build a new, larger church on a site to the north of the mission church. Its foundation stone was laid by the Rt Revd William Temple, then the Bishop of Manchester (later the Archbishop of Canterbury), on 1 July 1925.[2] The architect was Henry Paley of the Lancaster firm of architects Austin and Paley.[3] In 1927 the church was consecrated by the Rt Revd Percy Herbert, the first Bishop of Blackburn, although only the east end and the first two bays had been completed.[2] The church cost £20,000 (equivalent to £1,200,000 in 2019),[4] and provided seating for 400 people.[5][lower-alpha 1] The church built up a strong relationship with actors and entertainers appearing in the local theatres, and in 1929 the Actors' Chapel was created in the church.[2] In 1949 a columbarium (a chapel for the storage of cinerary urns) was added to the church, to a design by Edwin Carpenter. Further additions were made in 2001–02 by Stephen Eccles, consisting of a porch, a narthex, and a baptistry. The former mission church survives, and is used as the parish hall.[3]

Architecture

The church is constructed in bright red brick with stone dressings. The windows contain tracery in Decorated style. The plan of the church includes north and south chapels, the columbarium to the north, the baptistry to the northeast, and the narthex to the west. The interior of the church is lined with red sandstone. The furnishings in the choir, dating from 1927, are decorated with finely carved figures of angel musicians and saints. The integral pulpit is in red sandstone and is carved with saints under canopies and foliage. The Actors' Chapel forms part of the north aisle. Its reredos is painted with figures representing singers, dancers, entertainers and Saint Genesius, the patron saint of actors.[3] On the walls of the chapel are alabaster tablets inscribed with the names of entertainers, including Noël Coward, Sybil Thorndyke, Arthur Askey, George Formby, Ivor Novello, and Edith Evans.[3][6] The stained glass includes a window by Baron Arild Rosencrantz, dated 1935, with depictions of Parsifal, representing opera, Everyman, representing drama, and Galahad. This was created in memory of John Huddlestone, an impresario, and John Tiller, the creator of the Tiller Girls. Elsewhere is stained glass by Shrigley and Hunt dating from the 1930s, and by Harry Stammers from the 1960s. Also in the church is a statue of Madonna donated by Tessie O'Shea.[3] The three-manual pipe organ was built by Henry Willis between 1881 and 1895. It was formerly in St Philip's Church, Blackburn, and was moved to St Stephen's in about 1975 when St Philip's was demolished.[7][8]

See also

• List of ecclesiastical works by Austin and Paley (1916–44)

Notes

1. If the full plan had been completed, it would have cost £35,000, and provided 800 seats.[5]

References

1. St Stephen On-The-Cliffs, Blackpool, Church of England, retrieved 2 May 2012
2. Frank Bertram Freshwater 1910–1950, St Stephen On-The-Cliffs, Blackpool, retrieved 2 May 2012
3. Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) [1969], Lancashire: North, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 136–137, ISBN 978-0-300-12667-9
4. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
5. Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon: English Heritage, p. 251, ISBN 978-1-84802-049-8
6. Interior, St Stephen On-The-Cliffs, Blackpool, retrieved 2 May 2012
7. Lancashire, Blackburn, St. Philip (N01558), British Institute of Organ Studies, retrieved 2 May 2012
8. Lancashire, Blackpool—Shore, North, St. Stephen-on-the-Cliffs (D02101)), British Institute of Organ Studies, retrieved 2 May 2012