- St John the Baptist's Church, Knutsford
-
St John the Baptist's Church, Knutsford 
St John the Baptist's Church, KnutsfordLocation in Cheshire
St John the Baptist's Church, KnutsfordCoordinates: 53°18′12″N 2°22′25″W / 53.3034°N 2.3735°W OS grid reference SJ 753 785 Location Knutsford, Cheshire Country England Denomination Anglican Website St John, Knutsford History Dedication John the Baptist Consecrated 1744 Architecture Status Parish church Functional status Active Heritage designation Grade II* Designated 18 January 1949 Architect(s) J. Garlive, Alfred Darbyshire Architectural type Church Style Neoclassical Completed 1879 Construction cost £4,000
(£650,000 as of 2011)Specifications Materials Brick with stone dressings
Slate roofAdministration Parish St John the Baptist, Knutsford Deanery Knutsford Archdeaconry Macclesfield Diocese Chester Province York Clergy Vicar(s) Rev. Nigel Atkinson Laity Reader John Roberts, Thain Flowers Churchwarden(s) Debbie Woods, John Lee St John the Baptist's Church, Knutsford is in the town of Knutsford, Cheshire, England. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.[1] It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Knutsford. Its benefice is combined with that of St John the Evangelist, Toft.[2]
Contents
History
Knutsford was a chapel of ease in the parish of St Mary's Church, Rostherne, until the 18th century. In 1741 an Act of Parliament was obtained for it to become a distinct parish.[3] The church was built between 1741 and 1744 at a cost of £4,000 (£650,000 as of 2011),[4] the architect being J. Garlive. In 1879 the apsidal chancel was extended and reordered by Alfred Darbyshire.[5]
Architecture
Exterior
The church is built in neoclassical style in brick with stone dressings and a slate roof. The plan of the church consists of a west tower, a two-storeyed nave and a shallow chancel. The tower is in four stages with a west doorway over which is a round-arched window, a clock and round-arched belfry windows. The top of the tower has a parapet with modillion brackets swept between urns. The parapet of the nave has alternating solid and balustraded panels. At the southwest is a doorway in a pedimented case with a rusticated architrave and a round-arched inner door. There is a similar doorway at the northwest.[1]
Interior
The nave has a classical arcade of four bays with Tuscan columns on high bases carrying semicircular arches. Galleries are on the north, west and south sides.[1] There are two fonts.[5] One is made of marble and has an oak cover. It dates from the time of building of the church but spent some time in the garden of a private house.[3] The other dates from 1865 and is in High Victorian style.[5] An old parish chest is in the tower and in the church is a two-tier brass candelabrum donated in 1768. On the north wall is a pyramidal memorial to Ralph Leycester of Toft who died in 1776.[3] Also in the church is a memorial to Elizabeth Leigh who died in 1823 which is signed by Richard Westmacott. The stained glass is by Heaton, Butler and Bayne.[5] Two memorial boards are in the church which are believed to have been painted by members of the Randle Holme family of Chester.[6] The three-manual organ was built in 1882 by Alex Young and Sons.[7] The ring is of six bells. Four of these were cast in 1748–49 by Rudhall of Gloucester, and the other two are by John Taylor Ltd and date from 1996.[8] The parish registers begin in 1581.[3]
External features
In the churchyard is a stone sundial probably dating from the late 18th century. It consists of a baluster-like pedestal on circular plinth. It is listed Grade II.[9]
References
- ^ a b c "Church of St John the Baptist, Knutsford", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1388414, retrieved 2 May 2011
- ^ Knutsford, St John the Baptist, Church of England, http://www.achurchnearyou.com/knutsford-st-john-the-baptist/, retrieved 13 October 2009
- ^ a b c d Richards, Raymond (1947), Old Cheshire Churches, London: Batsford, pp. 195–197
- ^ UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Lawrence H. Officer (2010) "What Were the UK Earnings and Prices Then?" MeasuringWorth.
- ^ a b c d Hartwell, Claire; 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}
- ^ Hess, John P. (2007–2008), "Backford's Memorial Boards: were they painted by a Randle Holme?", Cheshire History 47: 34–39, ISSN 0141-8696.
- ^ Knutsford St John the Baptist, British Institute of Organ Studies, http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N04399, retrieved 10 August 2008
- ^ Knutsford S John Bapt, Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=Knutsford&Submit=++Go++&DoveID=KNUTSFORD, retrieved 10 August 2008
- ^ "Sundial in churchyard to southwest of Church of St John the Baptist, Knutsford", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1388325, retrieved 2 May 2011
External links
Categories:- Church of England churches in Cheshire
- Grade II* listed churches
- Grade II* listed buildings in Cheshire
- Neoclassical architecture in England
- Religious buildings completed in 1744
- Diocese of Chester
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
