Fishergate Baptist Church in Fishergate, 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 was an active

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

church for more than 150 years, but is now redundant. The church 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 ...

. Since 2018 it has housed a French-themed bistro.

History

The church was built in 1857–58 to a design by

James Hibbert James Hibbert (1831 – 19 November 1903) was an English architect who practised in Preston, Lancashire. Life and work Hibbert was born in Preston and educated at Preston Grammar School. From 1855 Hibbert worked in partnership with Nathan Rain ...

and Nathan Rainford. It was for many years an active church, but has been redundant since 2011, when it was advertised for sale, at a price of £500,000. The Reverend Phil Jump said the church basement had housed a number of volunteer groups which would be impacted by its closure. These included groups which supported the homeless in Preston. The church was later altered, by David Cox Architects Ltd of Preston, in a scheme shortlisted for an International Restaurant Design Award. In August 2018 it saw the opening of French-gastro chain Bistro Pierre, making it one of the largest restaurants in the city.

Architecture

Exterior

Fishergate Baptist Church is built 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 ...

with slate roofs, and is in Italian Romanesque style. It has a rectangular plan, is in two storeys with a basement, and has a symmetrical entrance front facing the street. Eight steps lead up to a double doorway, each door having an arch in

Mozarabic Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue for the majority of ...

style, and both contained in a round-headed arch. Flanking the doorway are two round-arched windows on each side. The doorways and windows have

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s with carved imposts, and above them is a cornice. The upper part of the entrance front contains corner pilasters and a

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

, the pediment containing a large

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 ...

and two smaller ones, all with

hood mould In architecture, a hood mould, hood, label mould (from Latin ''labia'', lip), drip mould or dripstone, is an external moulded projection from a wall over an opening to throw off rainwater, historically often in form of a ''pediment''. This mouldin ...

s. The rear of the church is

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 ...

d; the gable also contains a large wheel window, and two two-light

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

ed windows. Along the sides of the church are gabled projections, each containing a pair of windows. At the southeast corner of the church is a tower. In the ground floor of the tower is a round-arched doorway, in the first stage is a single lancet window, and in the second stage are pairs of lancets; all of these are in Mozarabic style. On each side of the third stage there is a clock face with a pair of

oculi An oculus (; ) is a circular opening in the center of a dome or in a wall. Originating in antiquity, it is a feature of Byzantine and Neoclassical architecture. It is also known as an '' œil-de-boeuf'' from the French, or simply a "bull's- ...

above, all with hood moulds. Over these is a cornice with carvings of birds projecting from the corners, and a tall pyramidal roof.

Interior

Steeply pointed arcades inside the church are carried on square piers. Doors at the far end of the building are flanked by foliated shafts, and a gallery with

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...

balusters. The church also contains monuments to members of the Sellrers family, dating from the late 19th century. The two- manual pipe organ was made by Henry Ainscough of Preston in 1870, and repaired by the same company in 1954; its case is decorated with

putti A putto (; plural putti ) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and sometimes winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University of ...

Appraisal

The church was designated a Grade II

on 29 January 1986, the lowest of its three grades of listing that is applied to buildings that are "nationally important and of special interest". Hartwell and

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...

in 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 publish ...

'' series comment that the tower is "rather starved".

References