St Nicholas' Church, Wrea Green

St Nicholas' Church, Wrea Green
St Nicholas' Church, Wrea Green, from the south
St Nicholas' Church, Wrea Green Location in Lancashire
Coordinates: 53°46′38″N 2°54′56″W / 53.7773°N 2.9155°W / 53.7773; -2.9155
OS grid reference	SD 397 316
Location	Wrea Green, Lancashire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Nicholas, Wrea Green
History
Dedication	Saint Nicholas
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	11 June 1986
Architect(s)	Sharpe and Paley, Paley and Austin
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1715
Completed	1884
Administration
Parish	Ribby cum Wrea St Nicholas
Deanery	Kirkham
Archdeaconry	Lancaster
Diocese	Blackburn
Province	York
Clergy
Priest(s)	Rev R. W. Marks
Laity
Reader	Mrs B. Cooper-Longworth, Mr A. Brindle
Churchwarden(s)	Mr T. Slater, Mr J. W. Dobson

St Nicholas' Church, Wrea Green, is in the village of Wrea Green, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Kirkham, the archdeaconry of Lancaster and the diocese of Blackburn. Its benefice is combined with those of St Matthew, Ballam, and St Michael, Weeton.^[1] The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.^[2]

History

The church was founded in 1715.^[3] It was rebuilt in 1848–49 by the Lancaster architects Sharpe and Paley.^[4] In 1884 the tower and spire were added by the successors in the same practice, Paley and Austin.^[5]

Architecture

Exterior

St Nicholas' church is constructed in sandstone rubble and has blue slate roofs. Its architectural style is Early English. The plan consists of a four-bay nave, with a tower attached to its south side, and a chancel with two short bays. The tower is in three stages and has a south doorway and a polygonal stair turret at its northwest corner. The middle stage contains a gabled niche containing a statue, and in the top stage are three-light louvred bell openings. On the tower is a broach spire with a two-light lucarne on each cardinal side.^[2] The windows in each bay of the nave consist of a pair of lancet windows with a circular window at the top. In the chancel is a three-light east window containing Geometrical tracery, and two double lancets on the south side. The west window consists of a double lancet above which is a sexfoil rose window.^[6]

Interior

Inside the church is a carved and gilded reredos and a stone pulpit. The east window contains stained glass by Shrigley and Hunt.^[5] The two manual organ was made in 1988 by Sixsmith, replacing an earlier organ by T. and C. Lane dating from about 1880.^[7]

See also

• List of works by Sharpe and Paley
• List of ecclesiastical works by Paley and Austin

References

1. ^ St Nicholas, Ribby w Wrea, Church of England, http://www.achurchnearyou.com/ribby-wrea-st-nicholas/, retrieved 12 August 2011 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Church of St Nicholas, Ribby with Wrea", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1072037, retrieved 12 August 2011 
3. ^ St Nicholas, Wrea Green, GENUKI, http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/RibbywithWrea/StNicholas.shtml, retrieved 21 June 2010 
4. ^ Price, James (1998), Sharpe, Paley and Austin: A Lancaster Architectural Practice 1836–1942, Lancaster: Centre for North-West Regional Studies, p. 71, ISBN 1-86220-054-8 
5. ^ ^{a b} Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) [1969], The Buildings of England. Lancashire: North, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 571, ISBN 978 0 300 12667 9 
6. ^ Hughes, John M. (2010), Edmund Sharpe: Man of Lancaster, John M. Hughes, p. 221 
7. ^ Lancashire, Wrea Green, St. Nicholas (S00084), British Institute of Organ Studies, http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=S00084, retrieved 12 August 2011