St Saviours Church, Bacup
Well first of all let me start by saying this church is amazing. From the marble pillars to the undamaged stained windows. It's in a league of it's own, the fact that it has been hardly damaged since 2007 is quite astounding actually.
I do apolagise for the quality of the pictures like the graniness and similar things, they were took on a fuji finepix so I had to make do with what I had. I've since bought a canon EOS 400D which is a lot better I must say
.
Visited this with Circa83 which I'm not too sure if he has his own report but he was definitely taking snaps. But thanks for showing me this one
.
Anyway on with the history, stolen from Snake Oil
.
History
Although Methodist and Baptist meeting rooms had been established in Bacup as early as 1700, the nearest church was a three mile walk away at Newchurch. By 1790 however, the Church of St John the Evangelist had been constructed. With the consolidation of smaller settlements in the area, in 1837 St Johns became the Parish church and served the growing local community, together with an increasing number of buildings of other denominations. By the mid-1850's, this church had fallen into a state of disrepair and subsequently collapsed in 1871.
John Holt, the owner and resident of Stubbylee Hall, was keen to provide for the spiritual needs of those who lived on his estate. However, he died in 1856 before his ambition could be realised. His son, James Maden Holt, frustrated by the slow progress of the repair of St John's, decided instead to pursue his fathers idea, financing not only a church for the Lee Mill area, but also its associated vicarage and a school.
In the 1860's architect Edward Wyndham Tarn was engaged to design the church, construction of which was completed by 1864. It was consecrated on 23 January 1865. The Church has been in continuous use for religious purposes from its consecration until it was closed for worship in December 2007, when the parish was united with Holy Trinity, Tunstead.
The Church of St Saviour is a substantial building, constructed from rock-faced sandstone quarried from the Holt estate in the Gothic style fashionable in the 1860's. It has a steeply pitched slate roof raised above clerestory windows and a very prominent tower at its north east corner, with a tall slate clad broach spire (approximately 45m to the top of its finial).
Internally, the wide nave is separated from the side aisles by arcades of slender, polished red granite columns. At the west end, a timber gallery is supported by delicate cast-iron barley-sugar columns.
My Visit
Arrived on the scene on a lovely July summers day with full camera battery, lens, camera, and few snacks in bag along with Circa83. Scoped out the place for 5-10 minutes and noticed that someone lived on ground or rather lived next door. Been careful we started to look about a bit further as there was a few entry points. None were open to the naked eye, just as we about to leave Circa83 managed to find an open access point.
Once in I could instantly smell the old church smell that is always present when entering a church. You could tell a few people had been in there quite recently as it was a bit trashed. Started to take photos right away as the light was really good. Was in there until it went dark so must of been at least 2 hours. Need a re-visit to see what conditon it's in now and to take better photos.
Thanks for looking
Anyone that fancies exploring a few places, inbox me.
Well first of all let me start by saying this church is amazing. From the marble pillars to the undamaged stained windows. It's in a league of it's own, the fact that it has been hardly damaged since 2007 is quite astounding actually.
I do apolagise for the quality of the pictures like the graniness and similar things, they were took on a fuji finepix so I had to make do with what I had. I've since bought a canon EOS 400D which is a lot better I must say
. Visited this with Circa83 which I'm not too sure if he has his own report but he was definitely taking snaps. But thanks for showing me this one
.Anyway on with the history, stolen from Snake Oil
.History
Although Methodist and Baptist meeting rooms had been established in Bacup as early as 1700, the nearest church was a three mile walk away at Newchurch. By 1790 however, the Church of St John the Evangelist had been constructed. With the consolidation of smaller settlements in the area, in 1837 St Johns became the Parish church and served the growing local community, together with an increasing number of buildings of other denominations. By the mid-1850's, this church had fallen into a state of disrepair and subsequently collapsed in 1871.
John Holt, the owner and resident of Stubbylee Hall, was keen to provide for the spiritual needs of those who lived on his estate. However, he died in 1856 before his ambition could be realised. His son, James Maden Holt, frustrated by the slow progress of the repair of St John's, decided instead to pursue his fathers idea, financing not only a church for the Lee Mill area, but also its associated vicarage and a school.
In the 1860's architect Edward Wyndham Tarn was engaged to design the church, construction of which was completed by 1864. It was consecrated on 23 January 1865. The Church has been in continuous use for religious purposes from its consecration until it was closed for worship in December 2007, when the parish was united with Holy Trinity, Tunstead.
The Church of St Saviour is a substantial building, constructed from rock-faced sandstone quarried from the Holt estate in the Gothic style fashionable in the 1860's. It has a steeply pitched slate roof raised above clerestory windows and a very prominent tower at its north east corner, with a tall slate clad broach spire (approximately 45m to the top of its finial).
Internally, the wide nave is separated from the side aisles by arcades of slender, polished red granite columns. At the west end, a timber gallery is supported by delicate cast-iron barley-sugar columns.
My Visit
Arrived on the scene on a lovely July summers day with full camera battery, lens, camera, and few snacks in bag along with Circa83. Scoped out the place for 5-10 minutes and noticed that someone lived on ground or rather lived next door. Been careful we started to look about a bit further as there was a few entry points. None were open to the naked eye, just as we about to leave Circa83 managed to find an open access point.
Once in I could instantly smell the old church smell that is always present when entering a church. You could tell a few people had been in there quite recently as it was a bit trashed. Started to take photos right away as the light was really good. Was in there until it went dark so must of been at least 2 hours. Need a re-visit to see what conditon it's in now and to take better photos.
Thanks for looking
Anyone that fancies exploring a few places, inbox me
.
