Survey Data
Reg No
11900405
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social
Original Use
Church/chapel
Date
1835 - 1845
Coordinates
282698, 239000
Date Recorded
03/10/2002
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Freestanding single-bay three-stage rubble stone Gothic Revival tower, built 1838-40, on a square plan originally entrance tower to former Catholic church with single-bay single-storey flat-roofed flanking porch to right (south). Remainder of church demolished, 1975. Roofs not visible behind parapet walls. Coursed squared rubble stone walls. Cut-stone dressings including diagonal stepped corner buttresses having pinnacles and moulded stringcourse to third stage. Crow-stepped gable originally to nave with diagonal stepped corner buttresses having pinnacles. Cut-stone battlemented parapet walls (on stringcourse to tower) with cut-stone coping (having pinnacles to tower). Lancet-arch window openings. Cut-stone chamfered surrounds with hood mouldings over. Now boarded-up. Pointed-arch door opening. Cut-stone surrounds. Cut-stone doorcase to tower with chamfered reveals having hood moulding and gabled feature over. Now boarded-up. Set back from line of road perpendicular to road.
Appraisal
This tower, originally built as the entrance tower to a church previously on site, is of social and historic significance, representing the final reminder of that earlier church on site, which was built as the ecclesiastical centre for the Catholic population in the locality. The construction of the tower in squared rubble stone attests to the high quality of stone masonry traditionally practised in the locality, and this is especially evident in the carved detailing that has retained a crisp intricacy, for example to the primary doorcase. The tower remains an imposing and picturesque landmark in the locality, while providing visual incident to the skyline. The adjacent gateway, now accessing the grounds of the replacement church, is constructed of similarly high quality stone work and retains gates of early surviving cast-iron work.