Description

LANCASTER

SD4861 WYRESDALE ROAD
1685-1/5/328 (West side)
Christ Church

GV II

Church. 1855-7. By Henry Martin of London. Paid for and
endowed by Samuel Gregson MP. South chapel and then south
aisle added subsequently, baptistry 1895 by Austin and Paley.
Squared coursed sandstone with slate roofs.
PLAN: nave with west baptistry and twin turrets, north porch,
lower chancel, south aisle and south chapel under a pitched
roof, a south porch in the angle between aisle and chapel, a
north transept, and a north vestry under an M-roof on an
east-west axis.
EXTERIOR: the pointed arch windows contain mostly Geometrical
tracery. The west towers have square bases broached to
octagons and are capped by stone spirelets above bell openings
which have gablets and engaged shafts. The south tower bell
openings are now blocked with masonry. Below the 5-light west
window the tower bases are linked by the added baptistry,
which has Perpendicular tracery and is canted forwards in the
centre.
The west window of the aisle is of 3 lights. The south aisle
has 5 bays separated by buttresses and a window of 2 trefoiled
lights. A 6th bay has a 3-light window and is probably an
alteration of the former south transept. The north nave wall
has one bay to the west of the porch and 3 to the east. All
have 2-light windows. The gabled porch has a moulded pointed
outer doorway with angle shafts. The transept has a 3-light
window to the north and one of 2 lights to the west. The north
wall of the vestry has a mullioned window of 4 trefoiled
lights and doorway with a Caernarfon arch. In its east wall
are 2 windows of 2 lights with pointed heads. The chancel east
window is of 3 lights and the east windows of the chapel and
south aisle are of 2 lights each. The 2 windows in the south
wall of the chapel are of 2 lights. The gabled south porch has
a chamfered pointed doorway facing east.
INTERIOR: the pointed arches of the 4-bay nave arcade are
moulded in 2 orders which die into slender chamfered piers.
The 5th, east, bay has an arch, formerly opening into the
south transept, with semi-octagonal responds.
The Baptistry is entered through 3 arched openings with carved
angels above their separating columns. The font is of
sandstone and marble and has a timber cover in the form of a
Gothic spire, suspended from an iron crane. The ceiling is
panelled and painted.
The north transept was originally used by the inhabitants of
the Workhouse, but in 1907 the present organ was installed and
its pipes and casing, which is painted and gilded, now fill
the transept arch. The nave has an open timber roof with
principal rafters rising from wall corbels, and high collars
with king posts and curved braces. The pointed chancel arch is
moulded and the inner order is carried on corbelled shafts
with foliated capitals. To its south a smaller moulded pointed
doorway with angle shafts leads into the chapel. The boarded
chancel ceiling has painted panels and ribs, as does the
chapel ceiling. Between chancel and chapel are 2 moulded
pointed arches springing from a central clustered column. The
marble reredos was added in 1926. Stained glass by Casolani,
made by Powell in 1865, also Powell glass of 1857.
HISTORY: built following the removal of Lancaster Grammar
School (qv) to a nearby site in East Road. It was also
intended for use by inhabitants of the Workhouse, which lay
immediately opposite the church on the east side of Wyresdale
Road. Firms involved in its construction included MC Baynes
(Masonry), C Blades (Joiners and Builders), Cross (Slaters and
Plasterers), and Willan and Cleminson (Plumbers and Glaziers).
(Christ Church Times: Lancaster: 1991-).

Listing NGR: SD4848361381

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Christ Church at Wikipedia
• Christ Church official website
• Wikidata Q5108696

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

• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)