St John the Evangelist's Church stands to the west of the village of

Norley Norley is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cheshire, England, north of Delamere Forest, near the village of Cuddington, Vale Royal, Cuddington. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 1,169. Its ...

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. 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, an ...

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 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 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

diocese of Chester The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York covering the pre-1974 county of Cheshire and therefore including the Wirral and parts of Stockport, Trafford and Tameside. History Ancient diocese Before the si ...

, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Frodsham. 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 those of

Christ Church, Crowton Christ Church, Crowton, is located in Station Road, Crowton, Cheshire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Frodsham, the archdeaconry of Chester, and the diocese of Chester. Its benefice is combined with those ...

, and St John the Evangelist, Kingsley.

History

The first church to be erected on the site was 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 ...

erected in 1833 and consecrated on 24 February 1835. The present church was built in 1878–79 and designed by J. L. Pearson. The land for the original church had been given by Samuel Woodhouse of

Norley Hall Norley Hall is a country house in the village of Norley, Cheshire, England. It was built in about 1500 on the site of an earlier house for the Hall family, enlarged in 1697 for John Hall, rebuilt in 1782 for William Hall, and enlarged again in ...

. The new church cost £3,500 ().

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built in tooled

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 ...

red

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 red tile roof. Its style is that of the later 13th century. Its 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 ...

, a north

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

, a two-bay

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. Ove ...

and a

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 ...

, a central tower, a north

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 withi ...

and a south porch which is approached by 11 steps. The nave and the tower have two-light windows. Above the tower window is a clock face and above this is a pair of two-light louvred bell openings. At the top of the tower is a plain

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'). Whe ...

. The chancel windows are lancets and at the east end are three tall windows. The window in the north wall of the transept is more ornate than that in the south wall of the tower.

Interior

In the chancel is a

sedilia In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, usually made of stone, found on the liturgical south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for use during Mass for the officiating priest and his assistants, the ...

. The

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...

of 1930, the altar of 1937, and screens of 1919 and 1921 were designed by F. H. Crossley. Most of the stained glass was made in the early and mid 20th century by William Morris of

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

. The west window of the north aisle is dated 1950, and is by

Trena Cox Trena is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Trena Cox (1895–1980), English artist * Trena King (born 1958), American archer * Trena Trice-Hill (born 1965), American basketball player See also * Trina (name) Trina is a com ...

. In the transept is a Willis organ, which was restored in 1985 by David Wells. The

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 ...

is square and probably came from the older church.

External features

In the churchyard is a memorial to the Woodhouse family with an earliest date of 1840. It is constructed in ashlar

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

on a red sandstone base and includes

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

plaques. It is a large monument standing about three metres high. On its top is a

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

on claw feet. It is listed at Grade II. The churchyard also contains three war graves, consisting of two soldiers of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(at the northeast corner of the church), and one of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(west of the church).

References

External links

Photographs of the church and monumentStained glass
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norley, St John's Church Church of England church buildings in Cheshire Grade II* listed churches in Cheshire Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Cheshire Churches completed in 1879 Diocese of Chester J. L. Pearson buildings