St Stephen and All Martyrs' Church, Lever Bridge

Nice community church. The only terracotta built church in the country. Steeple had tobe removed some time ago. Also has a primary school in the grounds.

Beautiful church, in beautiful scenery. Peaceful and quiet. The first of three terracotta churches to be built in the uk

Stunning array of wild flowers in spring

Exceptionally beautiful church x

Made welcome and given a small tour and some info ,then invited to use the church if I ever needed to for religious studies or not.Beautiful building made of terracotta in 1860,I should of took photos but wasn't sure it was appropriate.

Tea & cakes just doesn't get any better. Lovely terracotta church.

A beautiful building with beautiful scenery to match.

The church was built between 1842 and 1844 to a design by the Lancaster 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 the Ladyshore 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. There were problems in firing the terracotta resulting in considerable wastage but, despite this, the church cost only £2,600 (equivalent to £260,000 in 2019) to build. The church was formally opened on 18 February 1844, and consecrated on 26 June 1845 by John Bird Sumner, the Bishop of Chester. The land for the church was given by the 2nd Earl of Bradford. It provided seating for 471 people. Originally the church had an openwork spire, with crocketed pinnacles, a parapet with open tracery, and traceried windows. 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 local steeplejack Fred Dibnah in 1966. Following the discovery of extensive dry rot in 1989 a programme of repairs, including the removal of the dry rot, has been undertaken.Other than the slate roof, all the visible fabric of the church is terracotta, the use of which material has allowed for a high degree of decoration. The plan of the church is cruciform, consisting of a nave with a west porch (the original base of the tower), two wide transepts, a short chancel, and a vestry in the angle between the north transept and chancel. Externally the nave is divided into five bays by buttresses which are surmounted by finials. Each bay contains a two-light window in Decorated style. The transepts and chancel are similarly divided, with four-light Decorated windows at their ends. Along the top runs an openwork parapet.Internally the timber hammerbeam roof is carried on terracotta corbels. There is much decoration, with friezes, ball-flowers, foliage, inscriptions, panels, and blind arcades, all in terracotta. Behind the altar, forming a reredos, are niches, and panelling incorporating the words of the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer. Terracotta also forms the pew ends, which are decorated with poppy heads, and the organ case. The original altar, the octagonal diapered font and pulpit were also in terracotta. The stained glass in the east window, and in some of the windows elsewhere in the church, is by Thomas Willement; one of these windows depicts the execution of Charles I. A window in the south transept is by William Wailes and shows the stoning of Saint Stephen; and one of the windows in the north transept was designed by Henry Holiday in 1884.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 being Holy Trinity, Rusholme, and St Paul's, Scotforth. Its use in St Stephen's has been described as part experiment

A fantastic church to visit. Only a few of it's kind in the U.K.