St John the Evangelist's Church is the

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

of the village of

Cowgill, Cumbria Cowgill is a village in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. It is within the historic boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and is located south east of Sedbergh. The village is served by Dent railway station on the Settle-Carli ...

, England. It is in the deanery of Kendal, the Archdeaconry of Westmorland and Furness, and the

Diocese of Carlisle In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

. 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 united with that of St Andrew, Dent. The church 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

The church was built in 1837–38, and has previously been known as Kirkthwaite Chapel, and Cowgill Chapel. It was designed by the Lancaster architect Edmund Sharpe. Its design is similar to that of Holy Trinity Church, Howgill, which dates from the same period. The foundation stone was laid on 30 June 1837 by

Adam Sedgwick Adam Sedgwick FRS (; 22 March 1785 – 27 January 1873) was a British geologist and Anglican priest, one of the founders of modern geology. He proposed the Cambrian and Devonian period of the geological timescale. Based on work which he did ...

, Professor of Geology at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. The church was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

on 31 October 1838 by the Bishop of Ripon. It provided seating for 250 people. The Church of England Commissioners transferred the parish to the Diocese of Carlisle in 2012.

Architecture

St John's is built of coursed

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

with

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 ro ...

roofs. Its architectural style is Early English. It has a six-

bay 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, ci ...

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 single-bay

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 ...

with a

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

to the north, a south porch, and a bellcote at the west end. Each bay has a

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

, and there are

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 (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es between the bays. On the south side of the church is a wooden

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 porch. The bellcote has wooden louvres, and a steep pyramidal roof surmounted by a

weathervane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an list of weather instruments, instrument used for showing the wind direction, direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ' ...

. At the gabled west end of the church is a central buttress flanked by lancets, above which is an oculus. The east window is a stepped triple-lancet. Inside the church are wall memorials to members of the Elam family and others. The single- manual organ was built by T Hopkins and Son.

External features

The

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

gates and the sandstone gate piers to the churchyard, dating probably from 1838, are also Grade II listed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowgill, St John the Evangelist's Church 19th-century Church of England church buildings Churches completed in 1838 Church of England church buildings in Cumbria Diocese of Carlisle Edmund Sharpe buildings Gothic Revival architecture in Cumbria Gothic Revival church buildings in England Grade II listed churches in Cumbria St John the Evangelist's Church

History

Architecture

External features

See also

References