St John the Evangelist's Church, Weston

St John the Evangelist's Church, Weston
St John the Evangelist's Church, Weston
	St John's Church from the southwest
	St John the Evangelist's Church, Weston Location in Cheshire
OS grid reference	SJ 509,805
Location	Weston, Runcorn, Cheshire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St John's, Weston
History
Status	Parish church
Dedication	Saint John the Evangelist
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Designated	5 April 1990
Architect(s)	Douglas and Fordham
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1897
Completed	1900
Specifications
Length	88.5 ft (27.0 m)
Nave width	25 ft (7.6 m)
Other dimensions	Chancel width 18.5 ft (5.6 m)
Materials	Red sandstone ashlar; Welsh slate roofs
Administration
Parish	St John, Weston, Runcorn
Deanery	Frodsham
Archdeaconry	Chester
Diocese	Chester
Province	York
Laity
Reader(s)	Lee Johnson
Churchwarden(s)	David Redhead, Betty Clarke

St John the Evangelist's Church is in Weston, once a separate village and now part of the town of Runcorn, Cheshire, England. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.[1] It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Frodsham.[2] Its design has been described as "bold and original".[1]

History

The church was built between 1897 and 1898 to a design by Douglas and Fordham at a cost of over £5,000 (equivalent to £560,000 in 2019).[3][4] It was initially a chapel of ease to Runcorn parish church. To raise funds to build the church, its choirboys wrote thousands of letters to choristers and choirboys of churches and cathedrals throughout the country. This initiative aroused the interest of many people, and over 5,000 donations were received from people in all walks of life.[5] Because of this, it is sometimes known as "the choirboys' church".[1] The tower was added in 1900 at a cost of approximately £700 (equivalent to £80,000 in 2019).[4] A clock costing about £60 made by J. B. Joyce of Whitchurch was added to the tower in 1901.[6] St John's became a separate parish in 1931.[5] In 1998 an automated winding system was added to the clock, also made by Messrs. Joyce, costing £3,250.[6]

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built from local red sandstone with Welsh slate roofs. Its plan consists of an embraced west tower, a four-bay nave with a narrow north aisle, a south porch approached by a flight of steps, and a chancel which is higher than the nave. The organ chamber is to the north of the chancel and underneath the chancel are vestries.[1] It has a "very short, very powerful west tower with short broach spire", with one set of lucarnes.[7] The church has two massive west buttresses and a shallow buttress to the south. On the west side is a two-light window above which is a clock face. On each side are two-light bell openings.[1]

Interior

The stone pulpit is polygonal and includes a panel depicting the Crucifixion. The font is also stone and is octagonal.[1] In the south wall are two stained glass windows. The one to the west depicts Isaiah in a single panel and was made by L. A. Pownall of Falmouth. The other window has four panels depicting Joshua, Saint George, Saint Alban and Gideon; it was made by Percy Bacon of London.[8] The east window depicts the Crucifixion and is by C. E. Kempe.[9] Only one of the windows in the north wall contains stained glass. It depicts two angels; the designed and maker are unknown. The west wall contains a window to the memory of Rev Frank Cartwright, vicar from 1963 to 1968. It contains motifs relating to the Diocese of Worcester where Rev Cartwright was trained, including a figure of Wulfstan of Worcester, and the Diocese of Chester, including a figure of Saint Werburgh.[10] The organ was built by A. Young in 1898 and rebuilt by the Jardine Organ Company in 1981.[11] In the vestry is a framed letter from Robert Baden-Powell, posted from South Africa on 12 August 1900, congratulating the boys of Weston Village for forming an Anti-Smoking Society.[12]

References

Citations

Historic England, "Parish Church of St John the Evangelist, Runcorn (1130422)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 September 2012
St John the Evangelist, Weston, Runcorn, Church of England, retrieved 11 February 2011
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
Cowan (2008), p. 2.
Starkey (1990), pp. 99–100
Cowan (2008), p. 16
Hartwell et al. (2011), pp. 664–665
Cowan (2008), p. 6
Cowan (2008), p. 8
Cowan (2008), pp. 10–11
"NPOR H00039", National Pipe Organ Register, British Institute of Organ Studies, retrieved 29 June 2020
Cowan (2008), pp. 13–14

Sources

Cowan, Alex (2008), St. John the Evangelist Church, Weston, Runcorn, Weston: Les Littlemore
Hartwell, Clare; Hyde, Matthew; Hubbard, Edward; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2011) [1971], Cheshire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-17043-6
Starkey, H. F. (1990), Old Runcorn, Halton Borough Council