- St Mark's Church, Preston
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St Mark's Church, Preston 
St Mark's Church, Preston, from the northwestLocation in Lancashire
St Mark's Church, PrestonCoordinates: 53°45′47″N 2°43′08″W / 53.7630°N 2.7190°W OS grid reference SD 527 299 Location St Mark's Road, Preston, Lancashire Country England Denomination Anglican Architecture Functional status Redundant Heritage designation Grade II* Designated 27 September 1979 Architect(s) E. G. Paley Architectural type Church Style Gothic Revival Groundbreaking 1862 Completed 1870 Specifications Materials Sandstone ashlar, slate roof 
East end showing the tower
St Mark's Church, Preston, is a redundant Anglican parish church in St Mark's Road, Preston, Lancashire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.[1] In 1993 its benefice was united with that of St Michael and All Angels, Ashton-on-Ribble.[2][3]
Contents
History
St Mark's was built in 1862–63 and designed by the Lancaster architect E. G. Paley.[1] The tower was added between 1868 and 1870. This is particularly tall because it was built to rival the very high steeple of the nearby Roman Catholic Church of St Walburge, which had been added to that church in 1867.[3][4][A]
By the middle of the 20th century the population of St Mark's parish was declining,[3] and the church was declared redundant on 1 December 1982.[5] The building lay empty for over 10 years, and was then converted into residential flats. The altar and other furnishings were moved to St Michael and All Angels' Church, Ashton-on-Ribble, and installed in its Lady chapel, which was renamed St Mark's Chapel.[3]
Architecture
The former church is constructed in sandstone ashlar, and has a slate roof. Its architectural style is Decorated. The plan consists of a four-bay nave, north and south transepts, a chancel terminating in a three-sided apse, a west porch, and a tower at the northeast angle. At the west end is a three-bay porch flanked by buttresses terminating in gables. The porch is carried on plain columns with a gable above the central bay. Over the porch is a large five-light window. Along the sides of the nave are three-light windows separated by buttresses. The north and south walls of the transepts each contains two small two-light windows, with a wheel window above. Each side of the apse contains a tall two-light window rising into a gable.[1]
The tower is tall, is in four unequal stages, and has a narrow octagonal stair turret at the southeast corner. In the third stage are two tall and narrow two-light windows on each side. On each side of the top stage are two two-light louvred bell openings rising into gables which break through the parapet. The parapet is pierced, and at the corners of the tower are pinnacles.[1][6] Comparing the tower with the tall steeple of St Walburge's, the architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner says that it "tries to complete with the steeple of St Walburge in prominence and to defeat it by solidity and sensibleness".[4] In converting the church for residential purposes, balconies have been created and new windows have been added.[6]
See also
- List of ecclesiastical works by E. G. Paley
Note
A The spire of St Walburge's is the third highest in England.[7]
References
- ^ a b c d "Former Church of St Mark, Preston", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1291672, retrieved 3 June 2011
- ^ St Michael & All Angels, Ashton-on-Ribble, Church of England, http://www.achurchnearyou.com/ashton-on-ribble-st-michael-all-angels/, retrieved 3 June 2011
- ^ a b c d Crosby, Alan (2009), St Michael’s parish, Ashton on Ribble, Preston: A Brief History, St Michael and All Angels with St Mark, http://www.stmichaelspreston.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41&Itemid=38, retrieved 3 June 2011
- ^ a b Pevsner, Nikolaus (2002) [1969], North Lancashire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 199, ISBN 0-300-09617-8
- ^ (PDF) Diocese of Blackburn: All Schemes, Church Commissioners/Statistics, Church of England, 2011, p. 5, http://www.churchofengland.org/media/810334/blackburn%20-%20all%20schemes.pdf, retrieved 3 June 2011
- ^ a b Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) [1969], Lancashire: North, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 531, ISBN 978-0-300-12667-9
- ^ Grant for Preston’s most endangered church, The Victorian Society, 12 March 2008, http://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/news/grant-for-prestons-most-endangered-church/, retrieved 3 June 2011
External links
- Article about the church dated 1869
Media related to St Mark's Church, Preston at Wikimedia Commons
Categories:- Grade II* listed churches
- Grade II* listed buildings in Lancashire
- Church of England churches in Lancashire
- Gothic Revival architecture in Lancashire
- Religious buildings completed in 1863
- 19th-century Anglican church buildings
- Religious buildings completed in 1870
- E. G. Paley buildings
- Former churches in England
- Buildings and structures in Preston
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