St Mary Magdalene's Church, Clitheroe
Encyclopedia
St Mary Magdalene's Church, Clitheroe, is located in Church Street, Clitheroe
, Lancashire
, England. It is the Anglican
parish church
of the town, and is in the deanery of Whalley, the archdeaconry of Blackburn, and the diocese of Blackburn
. The church has been designated by English Heritage
as a Grade II* listed building.
. The tower and east window of the present church date from the 15th century. The rest of the church was rebuilt by Thomas Rickman
and Henry Hutchinson
in 1828–29. In 1844 an additional stage and the spire were added to the tower. The church was restored
in 1881 by the Lancaster
architects Paley and Austin. In 1898 the timber roof and clerestory
were added by Frederick Robinson. In 1913, the west gallery was removed. This had contained the original organ made by Samuel Renn
in 1834, which was moved elsewhere, possibly to Chester
. The new organ, made by J. J. Binns
, was sited at the east end of the church. In the 2000s it was discovered that the spire was leaking, and in 2010 an appeal was launched to raise money for its repair.
rubble
gritstone
with freestone dressings. It has a slate
roof and clay ridge tiles. Its plan consists of a six-bay
nave
with a clerestory, north and south aisle
s, a southwest vestry
, a chancel
with a south chapel, a two-storey north vestry, and a west tower. The tower is in Perpendicular style, with four stages, angle buttress
es, and a southeast stair turret
. In the bottom stage of the tower is a west doorway, above which is a three-light window. In the second stage are narrow square-headed windows, and the third stage contains two-light windows. In the top stage is a round clock face in a square frame on each side. On the corners of the towers are octagonal turrets that rise above the parapet
, which is embattled
. The spire is supported by flying buttress
es, and contains lucarne
s. The clerestory contains two-light square-headed windows, it has an embattled parapet, and octagonal angle turrets at the east end. The aisles have plain parapets, and buttresses rising to gable
s. The west windows have two lights, the windows along the sides are tall and also have two lights, and all contain Decorated-style tracery
. On the south side in the fifth bay is a doorway; the corresponding bay on the north side has a door leading into the vestry. The east wall of the chancel has angle buttresses and a five light window with Perpendicular tracery. In the south chapel is a blocked doorway and a two-light square-headed east window. The north vestry has a blocked north doorway, and a two-light east window with a triangular window above it.
posts. The arcades
between the nave and the aisles are supported by tall octagonal piers
. In the chancel is an ogee
-headed piscina
dating from the 14th or 15th century. The octagonal font
is plain, and is said to be from the 17th century; it stands on a 20th-century base. The polygonal pulpit
was moved here in 1979 from St John's Church, Darwen
. The monuments include damaged effigies
dating from the 15th century in the south chapel. Also in the chapel is a brass plate to the memory of John Webster
, an astrologist
and local headmaster, who died in 1682. On the north chancel wall is a hatchment
, and wall tablets to the Aspinall family with dates in the 18th and 19th centuries. The south chancel contains a wall tablet to Thomas Wilson, who died in 1813, by Richard Westmacott
. In the north aisle is an alabaster
memorial to those who died in the First World War. There is heraldic
stained glass in the east window, with some fragments of medieval
glass. The four-manual
organ was rebuilt in 1961 by Nicholson. It has been repaired twice by Sixsmith; in 1970 following damage by water; and in 1982, when it was rebuilt after fire damage. It was rebuilt again in 2007 by Principal Pipe Organs. The ring
consists of eight bells, all of which were cast in 1928 by Gillett & Johnston
.
Clitheroe
Clitheroe is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley in Lancashire, England. It is 1½ miles from the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists in the area. It has a population of 14,697...
, 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 the 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....
of the town, and is in the deanery of Whalley, the archdeaconry of Blackburn, 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.
History
The earliest record of a church on the site is in 1122, when it was granted to Pontefract PrioryPontefract Priory
Pontefract Priory was a Cluniac monastery dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, founded about 1090 by Robert de Lacy, and located in Yorkshire, England. It existed until the dissolution of the monasteries...
. The tower and east window of the present church date from the 15th century. The rest of the church was rebuilt by Thomas Rickman
Thomas Rickman
Thomas Rickman , was an English architect who was a major figure in the Gothic Revival.He was born at Maidenhead, Berkshire, into a large Quaker family, and avoided the medical career envisaged for him by his father, a grocer and druggist; he went into business for himself and married his first...
and Henry Hutchinson
Henry Hutchinson
Henry Hutchinson was an English architect who partnered with Thomas Rickman in December 1821 to form the Rickman and Hutchinson architecture practice, in which he stayed until his death in 1831. Hutchinson was born on October 16, 1800, in Ticknall, Derbyshire. He partnered with Rickman after he...
in 1828–29. In 1844 an additional stage and the spire were added to the tower. The church was restored
Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...
in 1881 by the Lancaster
Lancaster, Lancashire
Lancaster is the county town of Lancashire, England. It is situated on the River Lune and has a population of 45,952. Lancaster is a constituent settlement of the wider City of Lancaster, local government district which has a population of 133,914 and encompasses several outlying towns, including...
architects Paley and Austin. In 1898 the timber roof and 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...
were added by Frederick Robinson. In 1913, the west gallery was removed. This had contained the original organ made by Samuel Renn
Samuel Renn
Samuel Renn was an English organ builder who ran a business in Stockport, and later he traded in Manchester.Renn was born in Kedleston, Derbyshire and in 1799 was apprenticed to his uncle, James Davis, an organ builder in London. Renn became his foreman and supervised organ installations and...
in 1834, which was moved elsewhere, possibly to Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
. The new organ, made by J. J. Binns
James Jepson Binns
James Jepson Binns was a pipe organ builder based in Leeds-Organs:Pipe organs at the following locations were either built or rebuilt by James Jepson Binns or his JJ Binns company. A number of these buildings have been demolished and the organs broken up or destroyed...
, was sited at the east end of the church. In the 2000s it was discovered that the spire was leaking, and in 2010 an appeal was launched to raise money for its repair.
Exterior
The church is constructed in coursedCourse (architecture)
A course is a continuous horizontal layer of similarly-sized building material one unit high, usually in a wall. The term is almost always used in conjunction with unit masonry such as brick, cut stone, or concrete masonry units .-Styles:...
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...
gritstone
Gritstone
Gritstone or Grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for paper and for grindstones to sharpen blades. "Grit" is...
with freestone dressings. It 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 and clay ridge tiles. Its plan consists of a six-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 clerestory, 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 southwest 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....
, a 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 south chapel, a two-storey north vestry, and a west tower. The tower is in Perpendicular style, with four stages, 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 southeast stair turret
Turret
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
. In the bottom stage of the tower is a west doorway, above which is a three-light window. In the second stage are narrow square-headed windows, and the third stage contains two-light windows. In the top stage is a round clock face in a square frame on each side. On the corners of the towers are octagonal turrets that rise above the 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...
, which is 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...
. The spire is supported by flying buttress
Flying buttress
A flying buttress is a specific form of buttressing most strongly associated with Gothic church architecture. The purpose of any buttress is to resist the lateral forces pushing a wall outwards by redirecting them to the ground...
es, and contains lucarne
Lucarne
A lucarne is a small dormer window that is built on a spire or roof during the Gothic and Romanesque time period....
s. The clerestory contains two-light square-headed windows, it has an embattled parapet, and octagonal angle turrets at the east end. The aisles have plain parapets, and buttresses rising to gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
s. The west windows have two lights, the windows along the sides are tall and also have two lights, and all contain Decorated-style 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:...
. On the south side in the fifth bay is a doorway; the corresponding bay on the north side has a door leading into the vestry. The east wall of the chancel has angle buttresses and a five light window with Perpendicular tracery. In the south chapel is a blocked doorway and a two-light square-headed east window. The north vestry has a blocked north doorway, and a two-light east window with a triangular window above it.
Interior
Inside the church are north and south galleries carried on cast ironCast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
posts. The arcades
Arcade (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....
between the nave and the aisles are supported by tall 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 an ogee
Ogee
An ogee is a curve , shaped somewhat like an S, consisting of two arcs that curve in opposite senses, so that the ends are parallel....
-headed 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...
dating from the 14th or 15th century. The octagonal font
Baptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...
is plain, and is said to be from the 17th century; it stands on a 20th-century base. The polygonal 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...
was moved here in 1979 from St John's Church, Darwen
Darwen
Darwen is a market town and civil parish located within Lancashire, England. Along with its northerly neighbour, Blackburn, it forms the Borough of Blackburn with Darwen — a unitary authority area...
. The monuments include damaged effigies
Effigy
An effigy is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture or some other three-dimensional form.The term is usually associated with full-length figures of a deceased person depicted in stone or wood on church monuments. These most often lie supine with hands together in prayer,...
dating from the 15th century in the south chapel. Also in the chapel is a brass plate to the memory of John Webster
John Webster (minister)
John Webster , also known as Johannes Hyphastes, was an English clergyman, physician and chemist with occult interests, a proponent of astrology and a sceptic about witchcraft. He is known for controversial works.-Life:...
, an astrologist
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
and local headmaster, who died in 1682. On the north chancel wall is a hatchment
Hatchment
A hatchment is a funeral demonstration of the lifetime "achievement" of the arms and any other honours displayed on a black lozenge-shaped frame which used to be suspended against the wall of a deceased person's house...
, and wall tablets to the Aspinall family with dates in the 18th and 19th centuries. The south chancel contains a wall tablet to Thomas Wilson, who died in 1813, by Richard Westmacott
Richard Westmacott
Sir Richard Westmacott, Jr., RA was a British sculptor.-Life and career:He studied under his father, Richard Westmacott the Elder, before going to Rome in 1793 to study under Antonio Canova...
. In the north aisle is an alabaster
Alabaster
Alabaster is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals, when used as a material: gypsum and calcite . The former is the alabaster of the present day; generally, the latter is the alabaster of the ancients...
memorial to those who died in the First World War. There is heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
stained glass in the east window, with some fragments of 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...
glass. The four-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 rebuilt in 1961 by Nicholson. It has been repaired twice by Sixsmith; in 1970 following damage by water; and in 1982, when it was rebuilt after fire damage. It was rebuilt again in 2007 by Principal Pipe Organs. 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 eight bells, all of which were cast in 1928 by Gillett & Johnston
Gillett & Johnston
Gillett and Johnston is a clock and formerly bell manufacturing business in Croydon, England.-History:William Gillett started a clock making business on Union Road in Croydon, England in 1844. Charles Bland became a partner in 1854 and the company became known as Gillet and Bland. In 1877, Arthur...
.