Old St Ann's Church, Warrington

St Ann's Church is a redundant Anglican church in Warrington, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.[1] The church was closed for worship in November 1995, and since 1996 has been used as an indoor climbing centre.[2] From the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s the church was heated by steam from the then adjacent Tetley Walker's brewery.[1] A new church, also dedicated to St Ann, was built on a different site half a mile away in 2000.[3]

St Ann's (old) Church, Warrington
Southeast aspect of St Ann's Church, Warrington
OS grid referenceSJ 606 890
LocationWarrington, Cheshire
CountryEngland
DenominationAnglican
History
Consecrated27 February 1869
Architecture
Functional statusRedundant
Heritage designationGrade II*
Designated24 October 1974
Architect(s)John Douglas
Architectural typeChurch
StyleGothic Revival
Groundbreaking1866
Closed1966
Specifications
MaterialsRed brick with blue brick dressings
Slate roof

History

The church was built between 1866 and 1868 to a design by John Douglas.[1] There were delays caused by bad weather, and it was not until local solicitor William Beamont paid the builder that the church was consecrated, on 27 February 1869.[4] In 1996 it became a climbing centre with a mezzanine in the chancel. These changes are said to be reversible.[2]

Architecture

The church is built in red brick with some dressings in blue brick and it has a slate roof. Its plan consists of a six-bay nave without aisles, an apsidal chancel, north and south porches, a north vestry and a southeast tower. The tower is in the angle between the nave and the chancel and in three stages. In the lower stage is a single lancet window and in the second stage are three similar windows. The third stage contains pairs of louvred bell openings and above these is a corbelled parapet. On the southwest corner is a stair-turret rising to the height of the tower and capped by a tall conical-roofed turret rising above the parapet. On top of the tower is a tall steeply-pitched saddleback roof.[1] In the sanctuary (but currently obscured) are paintings of The Evangelists by Westlake, dated 1868, which were repainted by T. Hesketh in 1894.[2]

Edward Hubbard describes its architecture as being "quite startlingly bold and original".[5] In the Buildings of England series it is described as being "an impressively forceful High Victorian work..., bold and uncompromising", and the "bizarre juxtaposition" of the climbing walls and 19th-century architecture is described as "strangely enjoyable".[2]

See also

References
  1. Historic England, "Church of St Ann, Warrington (1161591)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 1 December 2012
  2. Pollard, Richard; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2006), Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 621, ISBN 0-300-10910-5
  3. St Ann's, Warrington, Newsquest Media Group, retrieved 24 March 2008
  4. Parish, Stephen, The History of St Ann's Warrington, ISBN 0-9538345-0-6
  5. Hubbard, Edward (1991), The Work of John Douglas, London: The Victorian Society, pp. 55–56, ISBN 0-901657-16-6
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