Christ Church is in Meadows Avenue, Thornton,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England. It is an active

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the deanery of Poulton, the archdeaconry of Lancaster, and the

diocese of Blackburn The Diocese of Blackburn is a Church of England diocese, covering much of Lancashire, created on 12 November 1926 from part of the Diocese of Manchester. The diocese includes the towns of Blackburn, Blackpool and Burnley, the cities of Lancast ...

History

Christ Church has been the parish church of Thornton-Cleveleys since 1836. The church was built originally in 1835–37 to a design by Joseph Parkinson. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

was added in 1913–14 by the Lancaster architects

Austin, Paley and Austin Sharpe, Paley and Austin are the surnames of architects who practised in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, between 1835 and 1946, working either alone or in partnership. The full names of the principals in their practice, which went under vario ...

., The (now non-functional) Pipe Organ is by Rushworth & Dreaper of Liverpool and was installed in 1950, In 1963 Leach, Rhodes and Walker rebuilt the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, added the tower and built parish rooms.

Architecture

The authors of the ''

Buildings of England The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were published b ...

'' series comment that the church and parish rooms have "a mishmash of an exterior". The church is constructed in yellow

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

with red sandstone dressings. The architectural style is Free Perpendicular. Standing to the southwest of the church are single-storey parish rooms, from which rises a tower with an open bell stage and a

saddleback roof A saddleback roof is usually on a tower, with a ridge and two sloping sides, producing a gable at each end. See also * List of roof shapes * Saddle roof A saddle roof is a roof form which follows a convex curve about one axis and a concave cur ...

. Inside the church is stained glass installed in 1975 and designed by the artist

Brian Clarke Brian Clarke (born 2 July 1953) is a British painter, architectural artist and printmaker, known for his large-scale stained glass and mosaic projects, symbolist paintings, set designs, and collaborations with major figures in Modern and conte ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thornton, Christ Church Church of England church buildings in Lancashire Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Lancashire Diocese of Blackburn Paley and Austin buildings

Christ Church, Thornton Christ Church is in Meadows Avenue, Thornton, Lancashire, Thornton, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Poulton, the archdeaconry of Lancaster, and the diocese of Blackburn. History Christ Church has be ...