St Peter's Church is in Middlewich Road, Minshull Vernon,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, 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 in the deanery of Nantwich, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield, and the diocese of Chester. Its

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

is combined with that of St Leonard, Warmingham. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. It was a Commissioners' church, having received a grant towards its construction from the Church Building Commission.

History

The parish of Minshull Vernon was formed in 1840, and the earlier church stood on a different site nearer to where

Leighton Hospital Leighton Hospital is a hospital located to the northwest of the town of Crewe in the county of Cheshire, England. It is managed by the Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. History Built at a cost of £6 million, Leighton Hospital was of ...

now stands. This church was damaged by fire and was demolished. St Peter's was built between 1847 and 1849 to a design by John Matthews, and

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

on 12 December 1849. A grant of £150 was given towards its construction by the Church Building Commission, the total cost of its building being £1,700 (). A north transept to accommodate the organ was added in 1903, and this was extended in 1913 by Harold Sheldon. Electricity was installed in the church in 1959, and a new vestry was added to the west end of the church in 1966.

Architecture

The church is constructed in stone with

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. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

roofs. Its plan consists of a four-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

nave, a north porch, a chancel that is narrower and lower than the nave, a north transept for the organ, and a south vestry. On the west gable is a double bellcote. Most of the windows are lancets, with a triple lancet at the east end. Inside the church is an oak

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

and a lectern in the shape of an eagle. On the north wall of the chancel is a trefoil-headed sedilia. The choir benches are carved with poppyheads. The stained glass in the east window was installed in 1879. The glass in the north window of the chancel was moved from a

Congregational church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

in Cheadle in 1974. Stained glass was added to the small window above the chancel arch to celebrate the millennium. Seven further stained glass windows, from a redundant church in Cheadle, were added in 2016. These windows, and the refurbishment of the choir vestry, were dedicated by the Right Rev. Peter Forster, Bishop of Chester, on 3 July 2016, the 50th anniversary of the vestry's original dedication. The three-

manual Manual may refer to: Instructions * User guide * Owner's manual * Instruction manual (gaming) * Online help Other uses * Manual (music), a keyboard, as for an organ * Manual (band) * Manual transmission * Manual, a bicycle technique similar to ...

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

was built in 1847 by Wadsworth.

Churchyard

The churchyard contains the war grave, standing east of the church, of a soldier of World War I.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minshull Vernon, St Peter's Church Church of England church buildings in Cheshire Grade II listed churches in Cheshire Churches completed in 1849 19th-century Church of England church buildings Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Cheshire Diocese of Chester Commissioners' church buildings 1840 establishments in England

History

Architecture

Churchyard

See also

References