Christ Church is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

in the

Pitsmoor Pitsmoor is a former village, now a suburb of Sheffield, England. The name derives from ''Or-pits'' as, anciently, the main local industry was the mining of ore.J. Edward Vickers, ''The Ancient Suburbs of Sheffield'', p.17 (1971) The village f ...

district, north of

Sheffield City Centre Sheffield City Centre (referred to locally as simply Town) is a district of the Sheffield, City of Sheffield and is covered partly by the City ward, Sheffield, City ward of the City of Sheffield. It includes the area that is within a radius of ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

History

By the mid-19th century, rapid population growth in the north of Sheffield led the Church of England to construct new churches in the area. Formerly covered by the Brightside area of Sheffield parish, the

Ecclesiastical Commissioners The Ecclesiastical Commissioners were, in England and Wales, a body corporate, whose full title was Ecclesiastical and Church Estates Commissioners for England. The commissioners were authorised to determine the distribution of revenues of the Ch ...

created three new parishes, of Brightside, Pitsmoor, and Wicker, and arranged for the construction of a new church in each parish. Christ Church Pitsmoor

The

gave £507 towards the construction of the church, with £2200 being raised in private donations; the Commissioners also gave an endowment of £150 per year.John Wolffe, ''Yorkshire Returns of the 1851 Census of Religious Worship: West Riding (South)'', p.116 The building was designed by local architects Flockton & Son and constructed from 1849 to 1850.Ruth Harman et al, "Pevsner Architectural Guide to Sheffield", p.178 It was consecrated on 15 August 1850. The ''

Pevsner Guide The ''Pevsner Architectural Guides'' are four series of guide books to the architecture of the British Isles. ''The Buildings of England'' series was begun in 1945 by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, with its forty-six original volumes pu ...

'' describes the church as "large and handsome, built to cater for an affluent congregation". Returns of 1851 state that the church was attracting around 200 people to each of three sittings. The church was restored in 1907, while most of the fixtures and fittings were replaced in 1913, including the font and pulpit, and the floor of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

and

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

, which is a

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

. Several

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

windows were added over the years. To the east is one of the Crucifixion and Ascension, featuring

Saint Wilfred Wilfrid ( – 709 or 710) was an English bishop and saint. Born a Northumbrian noble, he entered religious life as a teenager and studied at Lindisfarne, at Canterbury, in Francia, and at Rome; he returned to Northumbria in about 660, and beca ...

and

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

, dating from 1903. To the north are two dating from 1915: one of Christ Blessing Little Children, and one designed by Kayll and Reed of Works of Charity. In the 1980s, a church hall, designed by Ken Murta and Austin Peter Fawcett, was added to the south of the church. Christ Church is a member of

Inclusive Church Inclusive Church is an organisation founded in 2003 that advocates for the full inclusion of all people regardless of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, and sexual o ...

Notable people

Notable people associated with the church include

Martyn Snow Martyn James Snow (born 25 January 1968) is a British Anglican bishop. Since 2016, he has been the Bishop of Leicester. He previously served as Bishop of Tewkesbury from 2013 to 2016, and as Archdeacon of Sheffield, Archdeacon of Sheffield and Ro ...

Bishop of Leicester The Bishop of Leicester is the Ordinary of the Diocese of Leicester in the Province of Canterbury of the Church of England. Through reorganisation within the Church of England, the Diocese of Leicester was refounded in 1927, and St Martin's ...

, who served as vicar from 2001 until 2010, and John Marsh, former

Archdeacon of Blackburn The Archdeacon of Blackburn is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Diocese of Blackburn. Originally created on 17 August 1877 within the Anglican Diocese of Manchester, Diocese of Manchester, the office became a part of the new Diocese of B ...

, who was curate in the 1980s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitsmoor, Christ Church Grade II listed buildings in Sheffield Grade II listed churches in South Yorkshire

Churches in Sheffield Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

Churches completed in 1850 19th-century Church of England church buildings Church of England church buildings in South Yorkshire Commissioners' church buildings

History

Notable people

See also

References