St John the Baptist Church is in Liverpool Road North,
Burscough
Burscough () is a town and civil parish in West Lancashire in the ceremonial county of Lancashire, England. It is located to the north of Ormskirk and northwest of Skelmersdale.
The parish also includes the hamlet of Tarlscough and the Martin ...
,
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 an active
Anglican 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 Ormskirk, the archdeaconry of Warrington, and the
diocese of Liverpool
The Diocese of Liverpool is a Church of England diocese based in Liverpool, covering Merseyside north of the River Mersey, part of West Lancashire, part of Wigan in Greater Manchester, Widnes and part of Warrington and in Cheshire (it was origi ...
. Its
benefice has been united with those of St Andrew, Burscough Bridge, St Cyprian, Burscough Bridge, and Oaks, Burscough Bridge.
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 ...
.
It was a
Commissioners' church
A Commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church and Million Act church, is an Anglican church in the United Kingdom built with money voted by Parliament as a result of the Church Building Acts of 1818 and 1824. The 1818 Act supplie ...
, having received a grant towards its construction from the Church Building Commission.
History
The church was built between 1829 and 1832 to a design by Daniel Stewart.
A grant of £3,040 (equivalent to £ in ) was given towards its construction by the Church Building Commission.
[ The total cost of its construction of the church was £3,440. Galleries were inserted on three sides in 1857. In 1887–89 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.
Ov ...
was added by William Waddington and Sons, and in about 1932 the south vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...
was built.[
]
Architecture
St John's is constructed in ashlar 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 a slate roof. Its architectural style is Gothic Revival. The plan consists of a five- 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 ...
, and a chancel with a vestry to the south. The west front 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, and is divided into three bays by four polygonal 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 that rise to octagonal embattled 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 ...
s. On the apex of the gable is a bellcote
A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...
with louvred bell openings over which are gablets. It has an ogival
An ogive ( ) is the roundly tapered end of a two-dimensional or three-dimensional object. Ogive curves and surfaces are used in engineering, architecture and woodworking.
Etymology
The earliest use of the word ''ogive'' is found in the 13th c ...
top surmounted by a crocket
A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of crockets to a bishop's crosier.
Description
...
ed pinnacle. In the centre bay is an arched doorway, above which is a blind three-light window. In each lateral bay is a blind two-light window. The bays along the sides of the church are divided by buttresses, and each contains a two-light window. On the corners of the chancel are turrets, its side windows have two lights, and the east window has five lights.[
]
Regular services
Church services are held weekly on a Sunday at 9am, 11am and 7pm. There is also a midweek service at 10.30am each Tuesday.
See also
*
* Listed buildings in Burscough
*
*
References
External links
St John the Baptist, Burscough
– church website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burscough, St John the Baptist Church
Grade II* listed churches in Lancashire
Church of England church buildings in Lancashire
Anglican Diocese of Liverpool
19th-century Church of England church buildings
Gothic Revival church buildings in England
Gothic Revival architecture in Lancashire
Commissioners' church buildings
Churches in the Borough of West Lancashire
St John the Baptist Church