St Peter's Church, Darwen


St Peter's Church is in Bank Street, Darwen, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Blackburn with Darwen, the archdeaconry of Blackburn, and the diocese of Blackburn. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It was a Commissioners' church, having received a grant towards its construction from the Church Building Commission.

History

The church was built between 1827 and 1829 to a design by Thomas Rickman and Henry Hutchinson. A grant of £5,501 was given towards its construction by the Church Building Commission. The total cost of building the church was £6,786. The foundation stone was laid on 19 July 1827, and the church was consecrated on 13 September 1829. The original dedication was to the Holy Trinity, but this was changed to St Peter in 1972, when its parish was merged with two other parishes.

Architecture

Exterior

St Peter's is constructed in sandstone with a slate roof. Its plan consists of a seven-bay nave and apsidal sanctuary in one cell with a clerestory, north and south aisles, north and south porches, a north vestry, and a west tower. Its architectural style is Perpendicular. The tower is in three stages, with buttresses, and a stair turret at the northwest corner. It has a west doorway, above which is a cinquefoil window. In the top stage are five-light louvred bell openings. The parapet is battlemented with eight flat-topped pinnacles. Along the sides of the church is a plain parapet. The windows in the clerestory have flat heads and three-lights with cinquefoil heads. Along the sides of the aisles are buttresses and transomed two-light windows with cinquefoil heads containing Perpendicular tracery. In the second bay on each side is a porch with an embattled gable. The apse contains three windows similar to those on the sides of the aisles.

Interior

Inside the church are seven-bay Perpendicular-style arcades carried on slim piers, and galleries on three sides. The west end has been partitioned under the gallery. The alabaster reredos dates from 1923 and is a memorial to the First World War. The stained glass in the central east window is by Shrigley and Hunt and dates from 1896. There is also a window by J. Holmes dating from the later part of the 19th century. The three-manual organ was built in 1887 by Jardine. It was cleaned and overhauled in 1910 by Norman and Beard. In 1934 it was rebuilt by Binns, Fitton and Haley. There is a ring of six bells, all cast in 1831 by William Dobson.