Description

SD 62 NW PLEASINGTON PLEASINGTON ROAD

SD 643 266

1/51 Roman Catholic Church of St. Mary and St. John the Baptist 24-11-1966 - I

Church, 1816-19, by John Palmer, with carving and sculpture by Thomas Owen. Ashlar, with low-pitched slate roof. Tall and prominent building in mixed Gothic style. Nave with aisles, polygonal apse. West front has C12-style portal of 3 orders with tablet flower and crocketed hoodmould, above which are 3 statues on corbels (the under side of the middle corbel is a bust of George, Prince Regent, lettered on each side "G" "R" and dated in the corner "MDCCCXIIII"), all these within a giant arch with dogtooth and small carved figures. Above this arch a small parapet pierced with quatrefoils separates it from the wall above, which is set back slightly, contains an elaborate wheel window, and is flanked by octagonal turrets terminating in 3-stage pinnacles linked by a parapet of zig-zag openwork meeting a crocketed cross on the apex. Left and right of the front are side-offices (containing staircase and vestry) which have elaborately carved niches lettered respectively THOMAS OWEN SCULPTOR and JOHANNES PALMER ARCHITECTUS, the latter having a hoodmould with figured stops portraying the architect's wife and his son. The gable above the wheel window has 3 lines of incised uncial lettering. Five-bay nave and aisles: nave has small buttresses, stepped triple lancet clerestory windows, and openwork lattice parapet; aisles have gableted buttresses and embattled parapets, 5-light windows with alternating Geometrical and Perpendicular tracery in shafted and deeply-moulded arches, hoodmoulds with figured stops; 4th bay on south side has simple priest door below ½-depth window. Short polygonal apse has buttresses at the angles, tall 5-light Perpendicular windows with transoms. Interior: high and luminous, with rib-vaulted roofs to nave and aisles (carved bosses in the centre), 4-bay arcade of shafted piers and moulded arches with dogtooth ornament; west end is occupied by a generous internal narthex presenting a 2-bay arcade to the nave (the supporting column rising from the centre of a pedestalled stoup) and carrying a raked choir gallery with an organ at the top; east end has traceried wooden communion rail on segmental steps to sanctuary, which is framed by a very high arch, and has on each side of the altar a large carved relief, depicting the Beheading of St. John, and the Magdalen; at south side priest's door is set in centre of elaborate carved stone screen. History: built as thank offering by John Francis Butler, then owner of Pleasington township, said to have cost £23,000. Exceptional form of Catholic chapel for the period before Emancipation; and very elaborate use of Gothic with sculpture of great originality. (References: Pevsner; Whitaker Whalley vol. II pp. 352-7).

Listing NGR: SD6428426650

External Links

• Pleasington Priory at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7204265

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living