Christ Church, Rossett

Christ Church, Rossett, is in Chester Road, Rossett, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is designated by Cadw as a Grade II listed building.[1] Christ Church is an active Anglican church in the Alyn Mission Area, the archdeaconry of Wrexham and the diocese of St Asaph.[2]

Christ Church, Rossett
Christ Church, Rossett, from the southeast
OS grid referenceSJ 365,571
LocationChester Road, Rossett, Wrexham County Borough
CountryWales
DenominationAnglican
History
Dedication31 October
Consecrated31 October 1892
Architecture
Heritage designationGrade II
Designated18 October 1996
Architect(s)Douglas and Fordham
Architectural typeChurch
StyleGothic Revival
Groundbreaking1891
Completed1892
Construction cost£3,677
Specifications
MaterialsStone, green slate roof
Administration
ParishAlyn Mission Area
DeaneryAlyn Mission Area
ArchdeaconryWrexham wales
DioceseSt Asaph
ProvinceWales
Clergy
Vicar(s)The Rev’d Huw Butler
Curate(s)The Rev’d Dominic Austin Cawdell OGS

History

The first church on the site was built in 1841. The present church had been designed in 1886 by the Chester architects Douglas and Fordham, but it was not built until 1891–92.[3] The foundation stone was laid by Mrs Townshend Mainwaring.[4] It cost over £3,677 (equivalent to £400,000 in 2019),[5] the major donor was John Townsend of Trevalyn House, and £2,861 (equivalent to £310,000 in 2019)[5] was raised by public subscription. A clock was added in 1902.[1]

Architecture

The church is built of stone with a green slate roof in Gothic Revival style. Its plan is cruciform with a central tower over the choir at the crossing. It has a five-bay nave with a north aisle, a short chancel, north and south transepts and a south porch. The south transept is used as the vestry and the north transept contains a small chapel. The tower has buttresses on the north and south sides only which are in line with the east and west faces, and there are similar buttresses at the east end of the church. The clock face is on the east wall of the tower and on the other sides of the tower are three-light louvred bell openings. The top of the tower is crenellated with a pinnacle surmounted by a crocketted finial at each corner.[1] The windows have Perpendicular tracery. The porch is gabled, with a canopied niche above the doorway, and side buttresses.[6] The niche contains a statue of Christ the Good Shepherd. The east window has seven lights. At the angle of the south nave and the south transept is an attached stair-turret.[1]

Internally, the arcade between the nave and the aisle has octagonal piers.[6] The wooden furnishings, including the reredos, the stalls, the pews and the organ case were designed by Douglas. The stained glass in the east window (1905), and in the easternmost window on the south wall of the nave (1904) is by Kempe. The north window in the chancel has stained glass designed and made by Morris & Co. (1907) and in the north transept is glass dating from the late 1920s by Heaton, Butler and Bayne.[3]

The architectural writer Goodhart-Rendel commented about the church: "Inside and out this building has real charm, and is beautifully thorough in detail".[7]

Churchyard

The churchyard contains the village war memorial and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission of seven British Army personnel, five from World War I and two from World War II.[8]

See also

References
  1. Cadw, "Christ Church  (Grade II) (17453)", National Historic Assets of Wales, retrieved 2 April 2019
  2. The Diocese of St Asaph, Diocese of St Asaph, archived from the original on 12 October 2008, retrieved 1 June 2009.
  3. Hubbard, Edward (1986), Clwyd, The Buildings of Wales, London: Penguin, pp. 266–267, ISBN 0-14-071052-3
  4. "Notes and Comments". Denbighshire Free Press. 9 May 1891. p. 5. hdl:10107/3768574.
  5. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  6. Hubbard, Edward (1991), The Work of John Douglas, London: The Victorian Society, pp. 173–175, ISBN 0-901657-16-6
  7. Quoted in Hubbard, Edward (1986), The Buildings of Wales: Clwyd, London: Penguin, p. 266, ISBN 0-14-071052-3
  8. https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-war-dead/results/?cemetery=ROSSETT (CHRIST CHURCH) CHURCHYARD/
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