Description

679/7/138 WINDLE ROYD LANE
23-NOV-73 WARLEY
(East side)
CHURCH OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST

II
DATES OF MAIN PHASES, NAME OF ARCHITECT: Parish church of 1877-78 by W.S. Barber.

MATERIALS: Local sandstone in regular courses with grey freestone dressings, slate roof.

PLAN: Nave with south aisle, south-west tower, chancel and south vestry with organ chamber.

EXTERIOR: Parish church in simple Gothic style. The nave west front has 3 pointed windows under linked hood moulds with head stops. On the north side are four 2-light windows with plate-tracery cusped circles, and single-light window at the west end. The south aisle has a double and 3 triple pointed lights. The 3-stage tower has angle buttresses, but very shallow in mid and upper stages, and incorporating a north-west turret in the lower stage. The embattled parapet has corner pinnacles. The lower stage is the porch. It has a south doorway with continuous moulding, and small quatrefoil window above. In the west face is a pair of pointed lights under a relieving arch. The middle stage has round clock faces, added in 1905, and the bell stage 2 pointed openings in each face, with impost band and louvres. The chancel window is 3 stepped cusped lights, with 2 pairs of cusped windows on the north side. The vestry has a pointed south doorway and cusped pointed windows.

INTERIOR: The 4-bay nave arcade has round piers and double-chamfered arches. One bay is closed by a modern partition. The doorway from tower to south aisle has a continuous chamfer. At the east end of the south aisle is an arch with continuous chamfer, opening to the organ chamber. The nave roof is closely-spaced rafters. The chancel has an open wagon roof. In its south wall is a doorway to the vestry under a shouldered lintel and pointed blank tympanum. Walls are exposed stone. Original floors are concealed beneath carpets.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: Most of the original furnishings have been removed. The octagonal font is on a stem of quatrefoil section. The round stone pulpit has open arcading and fleurons. The wooden reredos, installed in 1891 at a cost of £197, is an ambitious high-relief Last Supper under gabled canopies. It is flanked by outer Gothic panels which have painted texts of the Ten Commandments, Lord's Prayer and Apostle¿s Creed, a slightly incongruous feature recalling the low-church early C19. There are several stained-glass windows of the late C19 and one of c1933.

HISTORY: Built in 1877-78 by William Swinden Barber (fl 1855-98), architect of Halifax, at a cost of approximately £4,000. The interior was significantly re-ordered c2005 when the pews and choir stalls were removed, and an altar was set up on the north side of the nave.

SOURCES:
St John the Evangelist Warley, 125th Anniversary Celebration, 2003.
Lambeth Palace Library, Incorporated Church Building Society Archives, file 08120.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The Church of St John the Evangelist, Warley, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* The church, a relatively modest Gothic-Revival building, is the work of a local architect and retains its C19 external character.
* The church stands in a prominent position on a steep hillside and, with other C19 suburban churches, documents the growth of industrial Halifax in the C19 and shows how churches were carefully sited to occupy commanding positions in the landscape.
* Although most of the interior fittings have been removed, it retains a notable wooden reredos.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26550275

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.

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