| Christ Church, Lancaster | |
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 Christ Church, Lancaster, from the northeast | |
  Christ Church, Lancaster Location in Lancaster | |
| 54°02′45″N2°47′18″W / 54.0458°N 2.7883°W /54.0458; -2.7883 | |
| Location | Wyresdale Road,Lancaster,Lancashire |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Churchmanship | Liberal Anglo-Catholic |
| Website | Christ Church, Lancaster |
| History | |
| Status | Parish church |
| Founder(s) | Samuel Gregson |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Heritage designation | Grade II |
| Designated | 13 March 1995 |
| Architect(s) | Henry Martin,Paley and Austin Paley, Austin and Paley Austin and Paley |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Style | Gothic Revival |
| Groundbreaking | 1855 |
| Completed | 1889 |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | Sandstone,slate roofs |
| Administration | |
| Province | York |
| Diocese | Blackburn |
| Archdeaconry | Lancaster |
| Deanery | Lancaster and Morecambe |
| Parish | Lancaster Christ Church |
| Clergy | |
| Vicar(s) | In vacancy. |
| Priest(s) | Rev'd Canon Brenda Harding |
Christ Church is in Wyresdale Road,Lancaster,Lancashire, England. It is an activeAnglicanparish church in the deanery of Lancaster and Morecambe, the archdeaconry of Lancaster, and thediocese of Blackburn.[1] The church is recorded in theNational Heritage List for England as a designated Grade IIlisted building.[2]
Christ Church was built between 1855 and 1857 to a design by the London architect Henry Martin.[3] It was built as a chapel forLancaster Grammar School and the localworkhouse.[1] The church was paid for and endowed bySamuel Gregson, a local industrialist andMP.[2] In 1889 a southaisle was added, designed by the local architectsPaley and Austin. It provided 152 seats, and cost about £1,000.[4] In 1894–95 a westbaptistry was added by the same practice, then known asPaley, Austin and Paley.[5] The same practice (by nowAustin and Paley) converted the organ chamber into the Storey chapel, the organ having been moved into the southtransept.[6] In 1919 a war memorial was installed in the churchyard. It was inDerbyshire stone, 25 feet (8 m) high, and cost £400. This was designed byHenry Paley, then trading asAustin, Paley and Austin.[7]
In 1899/1900 the church had a rugby league team, Christ Church Hornets which played in the Westmorland League. It isn't clear where they played, but match reports describe the ground as sloping.[8]
The church is constructed in squaredcoursedsandstone and hasslate roofs. Its plan consists of a nave, a west baptistry, a north porch, a north transept, a northvestry, achancel with a lower roof, a south aisle with a chapel, and a south porch. At the west end is a pair ofturrets. Most of the windows in the church have pointed arches and containGeometrictracery. The turrets have square bases thatbroach to octagons. The bell openings aregabled and above them are spirelets. At the west end of the nave is a five-light window containingPerpendicular tracery. Beneath the window and between the turrets is the baptistry.[2] Springing from the baptistry aregargoyles.[3] At the west end of the south aisle is a three-light window. The south aisle is in sixbays separated bybuttresses. Five of the bays contain two-light windows withtrefoil heads. The sixth bay, probably the site of an earlier transept, contains a three-light window. On the north side of the church is a porch, with one bay to the west and three bays to the east, all with two-light windows. In the north transept, the north window has three lights, and the west window two lights. The north wall of the vestry contains a four-lightmullioned window and a doorway; the east wall has two two-light windows. In the east wall of the chancel is a three-light window; the south aisle and chapel each have two-light windows, and in the south wall of the chapel are two two-light windows.[2]
Between the nave and the south aisle is a four-bayarcade. Thefont, dating from 1914, is made from sandstone andmarble. It has a wooden cover, carved as aGothic spire. Over this is awrought iron crane with an ornate arm.[2][3] Thereredos is in marble and dates from 1916.[3] Some of the stained glass was made in the middle of the 19th century byPowell.[2] Elsewhere there is a "magnificent scheme" of stained glass byCarl Almquist andE. H. Jewitt ofShrigley and Hunt, installed between 1892 and 1909, described in theBuildings of England series as "one of their best and most important ensembles".[3][9] The three-manual organ was installed in 1857, and was rebuilt, enlarged and moved into the north transept in 1937 by Henry Ainscough ofPreston.[10]
To the north of the church is a sandstone war memorial dating from 1919. It has been designated as a Grade II listed building.[6][11]
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