OS grid reference SD 563,103 Denomination Anglican Functional status Active Status Parish church | Country England Website St Wilfrid, Standish Phone +44 1257 421396 Diocese Diocese of Blackburn | |
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Location Market Place, Standish, Wigan, Greater Manchester Address 13 Rectory Ln, Standish, Wigan WN6 0XA, UK Parish Standish, Greater Manchester Architectural styles Renaissance architecture, English Gothic architecture Similar St Michael and All Angels' C, St Peter's Church - Westleigh, All Saints' Church - Wigan, St Mary the Virgin's Church - L, St Matthew's Church | ||
The Church of St Wilfrid is in Market Place, Standish, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the Diocese of Blackburn. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. The authors of the Buildings of England series describe it as "one of the most interesting churches in Lancashire".
Contents
History
The church is first mentioned in 1205 but the vast extent of the ancient parish with its eleven townships (Adlington, Anderton, Charnock Richard, Coppull, Duxbury, Heath Charnock, Langtree, Shevington, Standish, Welch Whittle and Worthington) points to a very early foundation. The church is believed to have been constructed between 1582 and 1584 and designed by L. Shipway. It is in a blended Gothic and Renaissance style.
During the 20th century the Lancaster architects Austin and Paley carried out work on the church. In 1913–14 they added vestries at the east end of the church, and in 1926 they built a gatehouse at the entrance to the churchyard. The gatehouse is listed separately from the church at Grade II. The architects also supervised minor additions and repairs to the church in 1932 and 1939.
Exterior
The tower is 19th-century Gothic, of grey-black ashlar. The prominent spire has an octagonal bell-stage. The remainder of the church is of yellow-black gritstone. The nave and chancel are Elizabethan, from 1582–84. Of the nave, Simon Jenkins, in England's Thousand Best Churches, writes: "The nave arches seem undecided between Gothic and classical. They have tentative columns of a Tuscan order, while the arches above are Gothic, a most strange 'transitional' form."
Interior
Jenkins describes the church as having "... the finest roof in Lancashire, worthy of Somerset's best. This is a Tudor work of panels and cross-braces covering nave, aisles and, most elaborate, the cancel. The vicar has studied the bosses and claims that no two are the same". The pew ends in the Standish family chapel display the family crest of an owl with a rat.