OS grid reference SD 744,058 Denomination Anglican Phone +44 1204 572819 | Country England Opened 1871 | |
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Location Farnworth, Greater Manchester Website St John the Evangelist, Farnworth Dedication Saint John the Evangelist Address 55 Church St, Farnworth, Bolton BL4 8AQ, UK Architectural style Gothic Revival architecture Architects Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Thomas Hardwick Similar St Saviour's Church, St Stephen and All Martyrs' C, 15 Firwood Fold, St Maxentius' Church - B, St Thomas' Church - Halliwell | ||
St John the Evangelist's Church is in Church Street, Farnworth, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Bolton, the archdeaconry of Bolton, and the diocese of Manchester. Its benefice is united with those of St Peter, Farnworth, Holy Trinity, Prestolee, and St Saviour, Ringley. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
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History
St John's was built as a Commissioners' church between 1824 and 1826 to a design by Thomas Hardwick. The chancel and porches were added in 1873 by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin, and the church was restored, at a cost of £4,000 (equivalent to £320,000 in 2015). In 1912 the pinnacles were removed from the tower.
Exterior
The church is constructed in stone and has slate roofs. Its plan consists of a five-bay nave, a three-bay chancel, a south vestry, an organ loft to the north, and a west tower. The tower is in four stages separated by string courses, and has octagonal buttresses rising to turrets at the corners. In the bottom is a doorway with a pointed arch, above which is a two-light window. In the third stage is a diagonal clock face, and the two-light bell openings are louvred. The parapet is embattled. On each side of the tower are two-light windows, and there are similar windows on the north and south sides of the church. The east widow has five lights.
Interior
There is a gallery on three sides of the church, supported by octagonal columns. On the west gallery are the royal arms of George I. The ceiling is flat and contains ribs and bosses. Between the chancel and the vestry to the north and the organ loft to the south are two-bay arcades. The reredos and pews date from 1874. The font is octagonal, standing on a moulded shaft, and has panelled sides. The wooden pulpit dates from 1907, and stands on a stone quatrefoil column. The stained glass in the east window depicts the Baptism of Jesus and the Crucifixion. Elsewhere there is glass by Heaton, Butler and Bayne of 1908, G. Wragge of 1923, Shrigley and Hunt of 1939, and W. Pointer of 1958. The three-manual pipe organ was built in 1894 by Peter Conacher and Company. In 1980 its action was changed from tubular-pneumatic to electro-pneumatic by H. Y. Ainscough. However, by 2002 it had become unreliable. It was mothballed and replaced by an electronic organ. There is a ring of eight bells, all of which were cast in 1954 by John Taylor & Co.