St George's Church is in St George's Street,

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...

, Lancashire, 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 Chorley, the archdeaconry of Blackburn, and the diocese of Blackburn. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It was a Commissioners' church, having received a grant towards its construction from the Church Building Commission.

History

The church was built between 1822 and 1825 to a design by Thomas Rickman. A grant of £12,387 (equivalent to £ in ) was given towards its construction by the Church Building Commission. It was originally a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ea ...

to the mother church of St Laurence, and became a separate parish in 1856. Later three more parishes were created within its boundaries, St Peter, which had earlier been a district within the parish, St James in 1879, and All Saints in the 1950s.

Architecture

Exterior

St George's is constructed in

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

stone with a

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. ...

roof. Its architectural style is Early English. The plan consists of a nave and chancel in one cell with a

clerestory In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...

, north and south aisles, and a west tower. The tower is in four stages with angle buttresses rising to octagonal

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...

s. It has a west doorway under a crocketed gable above which is a tall

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...

. In three sides of the third stage are clock faces. In the top stage are arcades of tall lancets, the outer ones being blind. The parapet is

embattled A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

. The nave and aisles are in seven

bays 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, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

. The bays of the aisles are separated by buttresses rising to pinnacles, and each bay contains a pair of lancet windows. Each bay of the clerestory also contains a pair of lancets. The east window consists of five stepped lancets.

Interior

Inside the church the arcades are carried on eight thin

piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...

. There are galleries on three sides carried on cast iron pillars, their fronts being decorated with tracery. The ceiling is flat, carried on cast iron, decorated hammerbeams. At the west end of the north aisle is a

baptistry In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...

containing a white marble

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

consisting of an angel carrying a scalloped bowl. The octagonal sculpted

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 ...

was made by Thomas Rawcliffe of Chorley. The eagle lectern is a memorial to the church's first vicar. The stained glass in the east window is also to the first vicar's memory and is dated 1875. There is a window in the south chancel wall dated 1877, and windows in the north chancel wall dated 1914 and 1920. The glass in the west window is by Stephen Adam, and depicts the Resurrection. The

chandelier A chandelier (; also known as girandole, candelabra lamp, or least commonly suspended lights) is a branched ornamental light fixture designed to be mounted on ceilings or walls. Chandeliers are often ornate, and normally use incandescent li ...

s were installed in 1977, having previously been in

St Mary's Church, Ulverston Ulverston Parish Church is in Church Walk, Ulverston, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Furness, the archdeaconry of Westmorland and Furness, and the diocese of Carlisle. Its benefice is united with that ...

. The clock in the tower was installed in 1920. 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 ...

organ was made in about 1870 by Kirtland and Jardine, with modifications by E. Walklet in 1934. The bells consist of an

Ellacombe Ellacombe may refer to: * Ellacombe apparatus, a method of ringing bells * Ellacombe, Devon * Henry Thomas Ellacombe (1790–1885), English divine and antiquary * Henry Nicholson Ellacombe Henry Nicholson Ellacombe (1822–1916) was a British plan ...

Chime, made by Mears and Stainbank at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, and installed in 1919.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint George's Church, Chorley Grade II* listed churches in Lancashire Church of England church buildings in Lancashire Diocese of Blackburn 19th-century Church of England church buildings Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Lancashire Commissioners' church buildings Thomas Rickman buildings Buildings and structures in Chorley

History

Architecture

Exterior

Interior

See also

References