Betjeman’s Best British Churches. Richard Surman
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GPS 53.2906N, 2.9509W
By James K. Colling, 1858–62, and formerly part of the Hooton Hall estate, now on the fringes of Ellesmere Port, this is a prodigious Romanesque church of red and white ashlar with octagonal crossing tower. Many of the details are French and Italian, including the Lombardic frieze across the W. front. Inside are granite arcades and, over the crossing, an astounding ashlar dome. Rich fittings include good stained glass and the serpentine font, which won a medal at the Great Exhibition.
FARNDON † St Chad
6m/10km N.E. of Wrexham
OS SJ413544 GPS 53.0841N, 2.8775W
The church, set in a big riverside village, was badly damaged in the Civil War and was rebuilt, apart from the 14th-century W. tower. The remarkable 17th-century E. window depicts prominent local Royalists, pikemen and trophies of war.
LOWER PEOVER: ST OSWALD – the c. 14th-century bog oak chest in the south aisle was hewn from a single, solid piece of timber, pulled up from a peat bog in a partly fossilized state
FARNWORTH † St Luke
1m/2km N. of Widnes
OS SJ517877 GPS 53.3844N, 2.7275W
This is a village setting for a red sandstone church with work of all periods. There are good Tudor wooden ceilings in the chancel and S. transept, and the Bold Chapel, rebuilt in 1855, has good monuments, including one to Peter Patten Bold by Chantrey, 1822.
GAWSWORTH † St James
3m/4km S.W. of Macclesfield
OS SJ890696 Gps 53.2241N, 2.1661W
The Perpendicular church adjoins the garden earthworks of the Elizabethan Hall. The 17th-century monuments to members of the Fitton family, with life-like grouped effigies, are outstanding. The nave roof is panelled oak.
GREAT BUDWORTH † St Mary and All Saints
2m/3km N. of Northwich
OS SJ664775 GPS 53.2936N, 2.5043W
An imposing village church standing on a hill, St Mary and All Saints is a 14th- and 15th-century structure, of good proportions and very light inside. The 16th-century oak crown-post and wagon roofs are impressive; there are some 13th-century benches, and a medieval stone altar in the S. chapel.
LOWER PEOVER † St Oswald
6m/10km E. of Northwich
OS SJ743741 GPS 53.2639N, 2.3864W
The churchyard forms the green of a very pretty hamlet, with inn and school, at the end of a cobbled lane. Although tidied up by Anthony Salvin in 1852, it is still one of the finest examples in the county of a half-timbered church of c. 1370. The tower attached to it is 16th-century Perpendicular. The effect inside is of dark oak and whitewash. Very good 17th-century furnishings include box pews, some with the lower halves of the doors fixed to retain the rushes. Marquetry panels decorate a fine 17th-century pulpit.
LOWER PEOVER: ST OSWALD – the interior woodwork is a mix of ages, with a c. mid-14th-century nave arcade at its core and very well carved 17th-century pulpit, box pews and screen
MACCLESFIELD † St Michael and All Angels
Church Street
OS SJ917737 GPS 53.2603N, 2.1244W
Late 13th-century, but largely rebuilt by Sir A. Blomfield in 1898–1901; the church has a sumptuous early 16th-century three-storeyed S. porch, but is chiefly noted for an array of 15th–17th-century monuments, including one by William Stanton, 1696.
MALPAS † St Oswald
8m/12km E. of Wrexham
OS SJ486471 GPS 53.0195N, 2.7670W
The large handsome church, mainly late 15th-century, stands by a motte at the highest point in the village. It is spacious, light and well-proportioned, with a magnificent angel roof. The splendid interior contains a superb 13th-century iron-bound chest, misericords and box pews. The Cholmondeley and Brereton family chapels are separated from the nave by fine Perpendicular screens, and contain contrasting pre- and post-Reformation monuments from 1552 and 1605.
MARTON † St James and St Paul
3m/4km N. of Congleton
OS SJ850679 GPS 53.2088N, 2.2257W
Black and white, built c. 1370, this is the most complete timber-framed church in Cheshire. The tower lobby has massive posts, and the nave and aisles are under one roof. There are traces of a 14th-century Doom.
MOBBERLEY † St Wilfrid
2m/3km E. of Knutsford
OS SJ790801 Gps 53.3182N, 2.3162W
A green village setting with inn and cottages; the design is a typical late medieval one for E. Cheshire; the aisle walls have small three-light square-headed windows. There is a magnificent rood screen of 1550 bearing carved Coats of Arms, and on the screen pillars can be seen a carved Green Man. The roof is fine, with 15th-century carving on the king-posts, and there is 14th-century glass, now on the S. side of the chancel.
LOWER PEOVER: ST OSWALD – the church was re-roofed in 1852 and the exterior timberwork made more decorative
MOBBERLEY: ST WILFRID – the 13th-century church was aggrandized in the 15th and 16th centuries, when first the clerestory was added and then the sturdy, Perpendicular tower
NANTWICH † St Mary
Between Hospital Street and Monks Lane
4m/6km S.W. of Crewe
OS SJ652523 GPS 53.0670N, 2.5206W
A beautifully set large cruciform church built, like so many Cheshire churches, of soft red sandstone which weathers badly. The exterior is impressive, however, despite extensive restoration by George Gilbert Scott, with a striking pinnacled octagonal tower at the crossing. The vaulted interior is rare in Cheshire, with a superb chancel containing carved and gorgeously canopied late 14th-century choir-stalls with misericords.
OVER PEOVER † St Lawrence
In grounds of Peover Hall,
6m/10km E. of Northwich
OS SJ772735 GPS 53.2582N, 2.3431W
In a park, near splendid 17th-century stables and backed by the Tudor hall. The oldest elements of the church are the two chapels: the S. chapel is mid-15th-century, the ashlar N. chapel mid-17th. The N. chapel in particular is outstanding and the earliest true Classical work in the county. The nave was rebuilt in brick, with a pleasantly pitched roof, in 1811. The W. tower – red brick with stone quoins and dated to 1741 – was retained. Rich furnishings and excellent tombs with effigies create a delightful, haunting atmosphere.
PRESTBURY † St Peter
2m/3km N.W. of Macclesfield
OS SJ900769 GPS 53.2893N, 2.1505W
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