| St Stephen and All Martyrs' Church, Lever Bridge | |
|---|---|
 The church from the southwest | |
  St Stephen and All Martyrs' Church, Lever Bridge Location in Greater Manchester | |
| 53°34′20″N2°24′18″W / 53.5722°N 2.4051°W /53.5722; -2.4051 | |
| OS grid reference | SD 732,084 |
| Location | Darcy Lever,Bolton, Greater Manchester |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Churchmanship | Open Catholic |
| Website | St Stephen and All Martyrs |
| History | |
| Status | Parish church |
| Consecrated | 26 June 1845 |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Heritage designation | Grade II* |
| Designated | 26 March 1964 |
| Architect | Edmund Sharpe |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Style | Gothic Revival |
| Groundbreaking | 1842 |
| Completed | 1844 |
| Construction cost | £2,600 |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | Terracotta,slate roofs |
| Administration | |
| Province | York |
| Diocese | Manchester |
| Archdeaconry | Bolton |
| Deanery | Walmsley |
| Parish | Lever Bridge |
St Stephen and All Martyrs' Church, Lever Bridge, is inDarcy Lever,Bolton,Greater Manchester, England. It is an activeAnglicanparish church in the deanery of Walmsley, the archdeaconry of Bolton, and thediocese of Manchester.[1] The church is recorded in theNational Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II*listed building,[2] and is the first of three "pot churches" designed byEdmund Sharpe, so-called because they are constructed largely ofterracotta.[3]
The church was built between 1842 and 1844 to a design by theLancaster architect Edmund Sharpe. Other than the foundations and the rubble infill of the walls, the entire church was built in terracotta made by the local firm of theLadyshore Coal and TerraCotta Company, which was owned by Sharpe's brother-in-law, John Fletcher. Many of the fittings that would normally be made from wood, were also in terracotta.[4][5] There were problems in firing the terracotta resulting in considerable wastage but, despite this, the church cost only £2,600 (equivalent to £330,000 in 2023)[6] to build.[3] The church was formally opened on 18 February 1844, andconsecrated on 26 June 1845 byJohn Bird Sumner, theBishop of Chester.[5] The land for the church was given by the2nd Earl of Bradford. It provided seating for 471 people.[4] Originally the church had an openwork spire, withcrocketedpinnacles, aparapet with opentracery, and traceried windows.[5][a] By the 1930s the spire had become unsafe, and it was dismantled in 1937. There had been plans to rebuild it, but the lower part of the tower was dismantled by the localsteeplejackFred Dibnah in 1966.[5] Following the discovery of extensivedry rot in 1989 a programme of repairs, including the removal of the dry rot, has been undertaken.[1]
Other than theslate roof, all the visible fabric of the church is terracotta, the use of which material has allowed for a high degree of decoration.[3] The plan of the church iscruciform, consisting of anave with a west porch (the original base of the tower), two widetransepts, a shortchancel, and avestry in the angle between the north transept and chancel. Externally the nave is divided into fivebays bybuttresses which are surmounted byfinials. Each bay contains a two-light window inDecorated style. The transepts and chancel are similarly divided, with four-light Decorated windows at their ends. Along the top runs an openworkparapet.[2]
Internally the timberhammerbeam roof is carried on terracottacorbels. There is much decoration, withfriezes, ball-flowers, foliage, inscriptions, panels, andblind arcades, all in terracotta.[2] Behind the altar, forming areredos, areniches, and panelling incorporating the words of theTen Commandments, theCreed, and theLord's Prayer. Terracotta also forms the pew ends, which are decorated withpoppy heads, and the organ case. The original altar, the octagonaldiaperedfont andpulpit were also in terracotta. The stained glass in the east window, and in some of the windows elsewhere in the church, is byThomas Willement; one of these windows depicts the execution ofCharles I. A window in the south transept is byWilliam Wailes and shows thestoning ofSaint Stephen; and one of the windows in the north transept was designed byHenry Holiday in 1884.[3][5]
Although terracotta was to become a frequently used building material, particularly in the industrial North of England, it was rarely used for churches. The only churches to be built with this material were the three designed by Sharpe, the others beingHoly Trinity, Rusholme, andSt Paul's, Scotforth. Its use in St Stephen's has been described as "part experiment, part advertisement".[3] Critical reaction at the time it was built varied from theIllustrated London News, who called it a "truly elegant structure", and theEcclesiologist, who considered its decoration to be "pretense and affected".[7] Today theBuildings of England series states that "the interior is exceptionally pretty",[7] andNational Heritage List for England, referring to the terracotta, states it is "a remarkable demonstration of the capabilities of the material".[2]
The churchyard contains thewar graves of nine service personnel, five ofWorld War I and four ofWorld War II. The original war grave headstones, together with a Commemorative Stone, have been re-grouped around the base of a war memorial to the dead of both wars.[8]
