St Mark's Church, Worsley
Encyclopedia
Worsley
Worsley is a town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Salford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies along the course of Worsley Brook, west of Manchester. The M60 motorway bisects the area....
, is an Anglican parish church in Salford, Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is built on a prominent 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) site formerly known as Cross Field and is a significant local landmark; it is now also a point of reference to the many who pass it on the M60 motorway, which bisects the parish. Its history is bound up with the emergence of Worsley as a cradle of the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
, at the hands of the Egerton family. Lord Francis Egerton
Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere
Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere KG, PC , known as Lord Francis Leveson-Gower until 1833, was a British politician, writer, traveller and patron of the arts...
, heir of the Duke of Bridgewater who built the canal that bears his name, commissioned the church, and he and the three following Earls of Ellesmere
Earl of Ellesmere
Earl of Ellesmere, of Ellesmere in the County of Shropshire , is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1846 for the Conservative politician Lord Francis Egerton. He was granted the courtesy title of Viscount Brackley, of Brackley in the County of Northampton, at the same...
exercised strong influence until they left the area in the 1920s, having providing many other local facilities. It stands on Worsley Brow, in what is now a conservation area; the extensive churchyard is bounded by stone walls on the west and south (each with lych gates), the M60 on the east, and woodland on the north.
Description
The church was built in 1844–46, at a cost of £20,000. It was one of the earliest of 470 churches designed by George Gilbert ScottGeorge Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott was an English architect of the Victorian Age, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches, cathedrals and workhouses...
(1811–78); according to his son he regarded it as one of his most successful and purest essays in the geometrical Decorated Gothic style of the late 13th and early 14th century, with careful attention to detail. There are numerous carved gargoyles, and the west end tower and spire (its base forming the west porch) have richly carved corner flying buttresses. The ring of bells was augmented to 10 in the 1934. The clock is famous for striking thirteen at 1 pm, and was transferred from the estate yard to the church in 1946. The church is constructed of hard silica sandstone, with roofs in slate (from the Delabole
Delabole
Delabole is a large village in north Cornwall, England, UK. It is situated approximately two miles west of Camelford.The village of Delabole came into existence in the 20th century; it is named after the Delabole Quarry. There were three hamlets: Pengelly, Medrose and Rockhead...
quarries in Cornwall). Much of the hidden leadwork has been replaced with stainless steel.
Although outwardly imposing, internally it has the intimate feel of an estate church on the grand style. The design is traditional: nave (of five bays, with oak hammer-beam roof), aisles and chancel, flanked by vestry/organ chamber on the north and Ellesmere chapel on the south. The north aisle was added in 1852. The Ellesmere chapel was extended slightly eastward soon after, when a family vault below was constructed. (This was re-ordered as a weekday chapel in the 1920s.) Various additions were made in the 1880s – an ornate Italian marble and mosaic reredos, paving of the choir and sanctuary, carved choir stalls (by R. Knill Freeman
Richard Knill Freeman
Richard Knill Freeman was a British architect who began his career at Derby and moved to Bolton, Lancashire in the late 1860s. His work, in Victorian Gothic style and typically recalling the Decorated Period of later medieval architecture, can be seen in several cities and towns across the north...
) and a new vestry – as choral services were introduced.
The fittings throughout are of the highest quality, with original oak pews, a pulpit fashioned by Scott from carved panels acquired on his travels, a richly-decorated limestone font and the noteworthy tomb of Francis Egerton (plus good brasses and memorials to later members of the family in the Ellesmere chapel). There are twelve windows of the saints, also acquired by Scott, and variously alleged to be French, Belgian or Italian, plus two from the studios of Burne-Jones
Edward Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company...
. The aisle windows are Powell’s cast glass.
In 1894 a lectern
Lectern
A lectern is a reading desk with a slanted top, usually placed on a stand or affixed to some other form of support, on which documents or books are placed as support for reading aloud, as in a scripture reading, lecture, or sermon...
designed by John Douglas
John Douglas (architect)
John Douglas was an English architect who designed about 500 buildings in Cheshire, North Wales, and northwest England, in particular in the estate of Eaton Hall. He was trained in Lancaster and practised throughout his career from an office in Chester, Cheshire...
was installed.
There is a memorial to St. Vincent Beechey
St. Vincent Beechey
The Revd. Canon St. Vincent Beechey was a 19th century vicar of Fleetwood and Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire and later of Worsley, Lancashire. He is most famous for founding Rossall School in Fleetwood, Lancashire in 1844 and was also President of the Manchester Photographic Society...
, founder of Rossall School
Rossall School
Rossall School is a British, co-educational, independent school, between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, Lancashire. Rossall was founded in 1844 by St. Vincent Beechey as a sister school to Marlborough College which had been founded the previous year...
, in the churchyard.