St John the Evangelist's Church, Chelford lies to the southeast of the village of Chelford

Chelford

Chelford is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is near to the junction of the A537 and A535 roads, about six miles west of Macclesfield, and six miles south-east of Knutsford. It is served by a small railway...

, Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

, England. 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. 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 diocese of Chester

Diocese of Chester

The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York based in Chester, covering the county of Cheshire in its pre-1974 boundaries...

, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Knutsford. 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 that of St Peter, Lower Withington.

History

The original church on the site was probably a medieval

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 timber-framed

Timber framing

Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...

 chapel. This was replaced in 1774–76 with a church that was little more than a "plain brick box with slightly pointed windows". The west tower was added in 1840, and the 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...

 was extended in 1902.

Exterior

The church is constructed in brick with stone dressings and has a 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...

 roof. Its plan consists of a four-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 a west gallery, a two-bay chancel and a west tower with a recessed spire. The tower is in three stages with diagonal 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 an embattled

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...

 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 spire is octagonal, covered with diamond-shaped slates and crowned by a weather vane

Weather vane

A weather vane is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. They are typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building....

. The west front of the tower has an arched doorway and a clock face.

Interior

In the church are 18th-century box pew

Box pew

Box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th century.-History in England:...

s. The gallery has been boxed in and converted into a meeting room. The walls contain paintings in Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...

 style. Also in Art Nouveau style are the pulpit

Pulpit

Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...

, the altar rails and the choir stalls which were designed by Percy Worthington

Percy Worthington

Sir Percy Scott Worthington was an English architect.He was born in Crumpsall, Manchester, the eldest son of the architect Thomas Worthington. He was educated at Clifton College, Bristol and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1887, and he qualified as an architect in 1890. He...

 and which date from 1903. The chancel has a stone-mosaic

Mosaic

Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...

 floor. The stained glass includes war memorials of 1920 and 1921, designed by J. H. Dearle

John Henry Dearle

John Henry Dearle or J. H. Dearle was a British textile and stained glass designer trained by Pre-Raphaelite artist and craftsman William Morris. Dearle designed many of the later wallpapers and textiles released by Morris & Co., and contributed background and foliage patterns to tapestry designs...

, and made by Morris & Co.

Morris & Co.

Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. and its successor Morris & Co. were furnishings and decorative arts manufacturers and retailers founded by the Pre-Raphaelite artist and designer William Morris...

  In the porch is a memorial window of 2009 by Samantha Land. In the church is a painted memorial board dated 1654 inscribed with a poem. 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...

 is of six bells dated 1885 by Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry

Whitechapel Bell Foundry

The Whitechapel Bell Foundry is a bell foundry in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. The foundry is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain...

.