St Nicholas Church, St Helens Explained

St Nicholas Church, St Helens
Pushpin Map:Merseyside
Pushpin Label Position:left
Pushpin Mapsize:200
Map Caption:Location in Merseyside
Location:New Street, Sutton,
St Helens, Merseyside
Country:England
Coordinates:53.4282°N -2.7211°W
Osgraw:NZ 274,513
Website:St Nicholas, St Helens
Consecrated Date:4 June 1849
Functional Status:Active
Heritage Designation:Grade II
Designated Date:23 August 1985
Architect:Sharpe and Paley
Architectural Type:Church
Groundbreaking:1848
Completed Date:1960s
Construction Cost:Over £3,900
Materials:Stone, slate roofs
Parish:Sutton
Deanery:Saint Helens
Archdeaconry:Warrington
Diocese:Liverpool
Rector:Revd Louise and Revd Simon Moore

St Nicholas Church is in New Street, Sutton, Merseyside, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Saint Helens, the Archdeaconry of Warrington and the diocese of Liverpool. Its benefice is combined with those of All Saints, Sutton, and St Michael and All Angels, Sutton. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

History

The church was built in 1847–49 and designed by the Lancaster architects Sharpe and Paley. Its total cost was over £3,900, to which King's College, Cambridge, patron of the church, contributed £1,270 in commemoration of the fourth centenary of its foundation. The church was consecrated on 4 June 1849 by Rt Revd John Graham, Bishop of Chester. The tower was added in 1897 and the vestry in the 1960s.

Architecture

St Nicholas is built in stone rubble with slate roofs. It is in Geometric style. The plan consists of a five-bay nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, a west tower, a three-bay chancel with a south organ loft, a north vestry, and a south porch. The tower has diagonal buttresses, a three-light west window, two-light louvred bell openings, and a stair turret. Around the summit is an embattled parapet. The chancel has gabled buttresses, and is surmounted by a parapet supported by corbels. The stained glass in the east window dates from 1879; it was designed by Henry Holiday and depicts Faith, Hope and Charity. Elsewhere is stained glass dating from the 1850s and 1890s.

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