St John the Baptist's Church, Pilling
Encyclopedia
St John the Baptist's Church, Pilling, is located in the village of Pilling
, Lancashire
, England. It is an active Anglican
parish church
in the deanery of Garstang, the archdeaconry of Lancaster and the diocese of Blackburn
. The church has been designated by English Heritage
as a Grade II* listed building. Its benefice
is combined with those of St James, Stalmine, and St Mark, Eagland Hill. It is described as "a fine example of the late Gothic Revival
church with much originality in detail".
on a site some 100 metres (109 yd) to the north of the old church. It was designed by the Lancaster firm of Paley and Austin at a cost of £7,000 (£ as of ). Commenting on the church, the architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner
wrote "The fertility of Paley & Austin remains astonishing".
rubble
with slate
roofs. Its plan consists of a five-bay
nave
with clerestory
and north and south aisle
s, a south porch, a two-bay chancel
with a north vestry
forming a transept
, a south organ chamber, and a west tower with a recessed spire. The tower has angle buttress
es and a battlement
ed parapet
. The parapet is decorated in flushwork
, using mauve and beige sandstone, rather than the usual flushwork materials of flint
and stone; this decoration is continued along the clerestory. In the top stage of the tower are two-light bell openings with pointed heads containing tracery
. The west window has eight lights, and also has a pointed head containing tracery. The south porch is in two storeys and has angle buttresses; it is also decorated in flushwork. The aisle windows have three lights, and the east window has five lights with Perpendicular tracery.
are carried on octagonal piers
. In the chancel is a double sedilia
and a piscina
. The stained glass in the east and west windows dates from the late 19th century. In the northwest aisle is a window depicting Saint Margaret made by Shrigley and Hunt
in 1911, and in the south aisle is a window by A. L. Moore
depicting Boaz
, Ruth
and Naomi
. The two-manual
organ was built in 1903, but its builder is uncertain. It was cleaned and restored in 1998 by David Wells of Liverpool
. The ring
consists of six bells, all cast by John Taylor & Co at various dates between 1934 and 1983.
Pilling
Pilling is a village and civil parish within the Wyre borough of Lancashire, England. It is north-northeast of Poulton-le-Fylde, south-southwest of Lancaster and northwest of Preston, in a part of the Fylde known as Over Wyre....
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England. It is an active Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
in the deanery of Garstang, the archdeaconry of Lancaster and the diocese of Blackburn
Diocese of Blackburn
The Diocese of Blackburn is a Church of England diocese, covering much of Lancashire, created in 1926 from part of the Diocese of Manchester. The Diocese includes the towns of Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, and the cities of Lancaster, and Preston, as well as a large part of the Ribble Valley...
. The church has been designated by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
as a Grade II* listed building. Its benefice
Benefice
A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...
is combined with those of St James, Stalmine, and St Mark, Eagland Hill. It is described as "a fine example of the late Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
church with much originality in detail".
History
The church was built in 1886–87 to replace the older Church of St John the BaptistOld St John the Baptist's Church, Pilling
Old St John the Baptist's Church, Pilling, is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Pilling, Lancashire, England. It stands to the south of the new church, also dedicated to St John the Baptist. The church is "an unusual survival of a small Georgian church"...
on a site some 100 metres (109 yd) to the north of the old church. It was designed by the Lancaster firm of Paley and Austin at a cost of £7,000 (£ as of ). Commenting on the church, the architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
wrote "The fertility of Paley & Austin remains astonishing".
Exterior
St John's is constructed in snecked sandstoneSandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
rubble
Rubble
Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture. This word is closely connected in derivation with "rubbish", which was formerly also applied to what we now call "rubble". Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as brash...
with slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
roofs. Its plan consists of a five-bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
with clerestory
Clerestory
Clerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...
and north and south aisle
Aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of seats on both sides or with rows of seats on one side and a wall on the other...
s, a south porch, a two-bay chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
with a north vestry
Vestry
A vestry is a room in or attached to a church or synagogue in which the vestments, vessels, records, etc., are kept , and in which the clergy and choir robe or don their vestments for divine service....
forming a transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
, a south organ chamber, and a west tower with a recessed spire. The tower has angle buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
es and a battlement
Battlement
A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet , in which portions have been cut out at intervals to allow the discharge of arrows or other missiles. These cut-out portions form crenels...
ed parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
. The parapet is decorated in flushwork
Flushwork
-Description:In architecture, flushwork is the decorative combination on the same flat plane of flint and ashlar stone. It is characteristic of the external walls of medieval buildings, most of the survivors being churches, in parts of Southern England, but especially East Anglia...
, using mauve and beige sandstone, rather than the usual flushwork materials of flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
and stone; this decoration is continued along the clerestory. In the top stage of the tower are two-light bell openings with pointed heads containing tracery
Tracery
In architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out.-Plate tracery:...
. The west window has eight lights, and also has a pointed head containing tracery. The south porch is in two storeys and has angle buttresses; it is also decorated in flushwork. The aisle windows have three lights, and the east window has five lights with Perpendicular tracery.
Interior
Internally, the sandstone masonry is exposed and there is an open timber roof. The arcadesArcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
are carried on octagonal piers
Pier (architecture)
In architecture, a pier is an upright support for a superstructure, such as an arch or bridge. Sections of wall between openings function as piers. The simplest cross section of the pier is square, or rectangular, although other shapes are also common, such as the richly articulated piers of Donato...
. In the chancel is a double sedilia
Sedilia
Sedilia , in ecclesiastical architecture, is the term used to describe stone seats, usually to be found on the south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for the use of the officiating priests...
and a piscina
Piscina
A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. Roman Catholics usually refer to the drain, and by extension, the basin, as the sacrarium...
. The stained glass in the east and west windows dates from the late 19th century. In the northwest aisle is a window depicting Saint Margaret made by Shrigley and Hunt
Shrigley and Hunt
Shrigley and Hunt was the name of an English firm which produced stained glass windows and art tiles.The business began in the 1750s when Shrigley's was a painting, carving and gilding firm in Lancaster, Lancashire....
in 1911, and in the south aisle is a window by A. L. Moore
A. L. Moore
Arthur Louis Moore was an English glass-maker who specialised in stained glass windows.-Life:Moore was one of nine children of a Clerkenwell clockmaker, and in 1871 he founded, along with a Mr. S. Gibbs, the London company of Gibbs and Moore, glassmakers. In subsequent years Moore seems to have...
depicting Boaz
Boaz
Boaz is a major figure in The Book of Ruth in the Bible. The term is found 24 times in the Scriptures, being two in Greek ....
, Ruth
Book of Ruth
The Book of Ruth is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, or Old Testament. In the Jewish canon the Book of Ruth is included in the third division, or the Writings . In the Christian canon the Book of Ruth is placed between Judges and 1 Samuel...
and Naomi
Naomi (Bible)
Naomi is Ruth's mother-in-law in the Old Testament Book of Ruth...
. The two-manual
Manual (music)
A manual is a keyboard designed to be played with the hands on a pipe organ, harpsichord, clavichord, electronic organ, or synthesizer. The term "manual" is used with regard to any hand keyboard on these instruments to distinguish it from the pedalboard, which is a keyboard that the organist plays...
organ was built in 1903, but its builder is uncertain. It was cleaned and restored in 1998 by David Wells of Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. The ring
Ring of bells
"Ring of bells" is a term most often applied to a set of bells hung in the English style, typically for change ringing...
consists of six bells, all cast by John Taylor & Co at various dates between 1934 and 1983.