All Saints' Church, Wigan

All Saints' Church, Wigan
Wigan Parish Church
All Saints' Church, Wigan, from the west
All Saints' Church, Wigan Location in Greater Manchester
Coordinates: 53°32′46″N 2°37′58″W / 53.5460°N 2.6328°W / 53.5460; -2.6328
OS grid reference	SD 582 057
Location	Wallgate, Wigan, Greater Manchester
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	Wigan Parish Church
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Designated	24 October 1951
Architect(s)	Sharpe and Paley (rebuilding) E. G. Paley (addition to tower)
Architectural type	Church
Style	Perpendicular, Gothic Revival
Specifications
Materials	Sandstone, lead roofs
Administration
Parish	All Saints, Wigan
Deanery	Wigan
Archdeaconry	Warrington
Diocese	Liverpool
Province	York
Clergy
Rector	Revd R. J. Hutchinson
Curate(s)	Revd J. Haworth
Laity
Director of music	Karl Greenall
Churchwarden(s)	Mrs R. Cartlidge, Mr M. Reeves
Parish administrator	Mrs A. Fairhurst

All Saints' Church, Wigan, is located in Wallgate, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, and is the parish church of the town. It is an active Anglican church in the deanery of Wigan, the archdeaconry of Warrington, and the diocese of Liverpool.^[1] Its benefice is united with that of St George, Wigan. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.^[2] It stands on a hill in the centre of the town.^[3]

History

The oldest fabric in the church is to be found in the lower parts of the tower which date from the later part of the 13th century. The belfry stage was probably added in the 16th century.^[4] Between 1845 and 1850 the church was rebuilt, other than the tower, the north chapel, and two turrets between the chancel and the nave. The architects responsible were Sharpe and Paley of Lancaster. The total cost of this was £15,065 (£1,280,000 as of 2012).^[5][6] In 1861 E. G. Paley, now working alone, added another stage to the tower including clock faces and pinnacles.^[4] The church was restored and its exterior partly re-faced in 1922.^[2] Further restorations and repairs have been carried out since then.^[3]

Architecture

Exterior

The church is constructed in sandstone with a lead roof.^[2] Its architectural style is Perpendicular, following the style of the church it replaced.^[4] The plan consists of a six-bay nave, a two-bay chancel, both of which have a clerestory, a south aisle with a porch at its west end, a north aisle with a two-bay chapel at the west end and a tower at its junction with the chancel, and a vestry to the north of the chancel. Between the nave and the chancel are the octagonal turrets remaining from the medieval church; these have crocketed caps. Along the sides of the church are embattled parapets and crocketed pinnacles. At the west end of the church is a six-light window, and the east window has seven lights.^[2]

Interior

Inside the church are six-bay arcades carried on quatrefoil piers. The roof is coffered. There are corporation stalls of 1850.^[2] The reredos and pulpit were designed by Paley. The font has an octagonal bowl with a qutrefoil frieze and incorporates a fragment from the 14th or 15th century. The chancel screen of 1901 was designed by W. D. Caroe. Built into the splay of a north window is a Roman altar. The stained glass includes fragments in the north window dating from the 15th century, that were reassembled in 1956–57 under the direction of Eric Milner-White. Elsewhere are 19th-century windows by William Wailes, Heaton, Butler and Bayne, Hardman & Co., Lavers and Barraud, Clayton and Bell, and Burlison and Grylls. The monuments include a couple in the south chapel that are badly defaced. These are considered to be effigies of Sir William de Bradshaigh, who founded a chantry in the church in 1338, and his wife, Mabel. The female effigy was re-cut, and the male effigy was copied, by John Gibson in about 1850. There are also memorials to James Bankes, who died in 1689, and John Baldwin, who died in 1726. On the east wall of the chapel are marble monuments to the 23rd Earl of Crawford, who died in 1825, and his wife, and to the wife of the 24th Earl of Crawford who died in 1850.^[4] The ring consists of ten bells, all cast in 1935 by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough.^[7]

Organ

The earlier church contained an organ dating from at least 1623, which was rebuilt in the early 19th century by Samuel Renn. In the rebuilt church, the two-manual organ was made by Richard Jackson and completed by Hill. In 1901–02 it was rebuilt as a three-manual organ by Norman and Beard.^[8] Further alterations were made to the organ during the 20th century by the same company.^[9][10]

The organists, some of whom were notable, include:

External features

To the south of the church in a triangular garden is a war memorial of 1925 designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, which is listed at Grade II*. It is in Portland stone with bronze plaques recording the names of those who fell in both world wars.^[12] In and around the churchyard are structures that have been listed at Grade II. These are the boundary wall of the churchyard and two archways,^[13] the gate piers at the north entrance to the churchyard,^[14] railings encircling the church,^[15] and two sections of the churchyard wall.^[16][17]

Gallery

• 

  Detail from the south face

• 

  Tower

See also

• List of works by Sharpe and Paley
• List of ecclesiastical works by E. G. Paley
• Grade II* listed buildings in Greater Manchester
• List of churches in Greater Manchester

References