![The former St Marks Church, Preston - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/The_former_St_Marks_Church%2C_Preston_-_geograph.org.uk_-_747296.jpg)
St Mark's Church is a
redundant 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 St Mark's Road,
Preston,
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 Lancash ...
, England. It is recorded in the
National Heritage List for England
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...
as a designated Grade II*
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
In 1993 its
benefice was united with that of
St Michael and All Angels, Ashton-on-Ribble.
History
St Mark's was built in 1862–63 and designed by the
Lancaster architect
E. G. Paley.
[ The cost of the church and the site was £6,594 (). The tower was added between 1868 and 1870. This is particularly tall because it was built to rival the very high steeple of the nearby Roman Catholic Church of St Walburge, which had been added to that church in 1867.][
By the middle of the 20th century the population of St Mark's parish was declining,][ and the church was declared redundant on 1 December 1982. The building lay empty for over 10 years, and was then converted into residential flats. The altar and other furnishings were moved to St Michael and All Angels' Church, ]Ashton-on-Ribble
Ashton-on-Ribble is a suburb of Preston, Lancashire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 4,459.
Ashton-on-Ribble was recorded in the ''Domesday Book''.
Demographics
The 2011 census records the ward's population at 4,459; in 2001 the ...
, and installed in its Lady chapel
A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British English, British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our Lady", Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church (building), church. The chapels are also known as ...
, which was renamed St Mark's Chapel.[
]
Architecture
The former church is constructed in 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 ...
ashlar, and has a slate roof. Its architectural style is Decorated. The plan consists of a four- bay 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 ...
, north and south transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...
s, a 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.
Ov ...
terminating in a three-sided apse
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...
, a west porch, and a tower at the northeast angle. At the west end is a three-bay porch flanked by buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...
es terminating in gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
s. The porch is carried on plain columns with a gable above the central bay. Over the porch is a large five-light window. Along the sides of the nave are three-light windows separated by buttresses. The north and south walls of the transepts each contains two small two-light windows, with a wheel window
Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' w ...
above. Each side of the apse contains a tall two-light window rising into a gable.[
The tower is tall, is in four unequal stages, and has a narrow octagonal stair ]turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
* Mi ...
at the southeast corner. In the third stage are two tall and narrow two-light windows on each side. On each side of the top stage are two two-light louvred bell openings rising into gables which break through the parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...
. The parapet is pierced, and at the corners of the tower are pinnacles. Comparing the tower with the tall steeple of St Walburge's, the architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
says that it "tries to complete with the steeple of St Walburge in prominence and to defeat it by solidity and sensibleness". In converting the church for residential purposes, balconies have been created and new windows have been added.[ The former school building has been converted into a design studio and occupied by Heckford Advertising Agency since 1990.
]
See also
*
*Listed buildings in Preston, Lancashire
Preston is a city in Lancashire, England, that contains about 340 listed buildings. Its recorded history goes back to the Roman era, and in the medieval period it was a market town and a port, its first charter being granted in 1179. The city sta ...
*List of ecclesiastical works by E. G. Paley
Edward Graham Paley (1823–95) (usually known as E. G. Paley) was an English architect who practised for the whole of his career from an office in Lancaster, Lancashire. He was born in Easingwold, North Yorkshire, and moved to Lancaster in ...
Note
The spire of St Walburge's is the third highest, and tallest of any parish church, in England.
References
External links
Article about the church dated 1869
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Preston, St Mark's Church
Grade II* listed churches in Lancashire
Church of England church buildings in Lancashire
Gothic Revival church buildings in England
Gothic Revival architecture in Lancashire
Churches completed in 1863
19th-century Church of England church buildings
Churches completed in 1870
Church buildings by E. G. Paley
Former Church of England church buildings
St Mark's Church
Former churches in Lancashire