St Christopher's Church, Sneinton

St. Christopher's Church, Sneinton
The Church of St. Christopher with St. Philip, Sneinton
52°57′00″N1°7′29″W / 52.95000°N 1.12472°W / 52.95000; -1.12472
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
Churchmanship	Open Evangelical
Website	achurchnearyou.com/sneinton-st-christopher
History
Founded	Church of England
Dedication	St. Christopher
Consecrated	1 December 1910
Architecture
Architect(s)	Frank Edwin Littler
Groundbreaking	1909
Completed	1910
Construction cost	£7,000 (equivalent to £760,200in 2021) [1]
Administration
Province	York
Diocese	Diocese of Southwell
Parish	Sneinton

St Christopher's Church, Sneinton is a Church of England church in Sneinton Nottingham. ^[2]

History

The church was built on the site of a former iron mission church and school. The school room was 46 feet (14 m) long and 20 feet (6.1 m) wide. It was moved on rollers to make room for the building of the new church. The building was loosened from its foundations and beams fixed underneath. The structure was raised by hydraulic jacks and placed on rollers and moved 40 feet (12 m) by a team of 17 men. ^[3] Two weeks later the iron church was moved using the same technique. The church was estimated to weigh between 60 and 80 tons, and measured 84 feet (26 m) and 40 feet (12 m) wide. The pews, organ and fittings were left intact and the church moved 70 feet (21 m). ^[4]

The new church was built in the early Decorated Gothic style with two side aisles and north and south transepts. It was consecrated by Rt. Revd. Edwyn Hoskyns the Bishop of Southwell on 1 December 1910. ^[5] It replaced a tin church which had been opened in 1902 on the same site. It became the main church for St Christopher's, from the original church built on Meadow Lane, near Trent Bridge in 1885, which was retained as a mission church.

The church was badly damaged in the air raid on Nottingham on 8 and 9 May 1941 (the same raid which destroyed St. John the Baptist's Church, Leenside, Nottingham nearby). Only the walls were left standing. Until restoration work was completed in 1952, ^[6] the church joined with St. Philip's Church, Pennyfoot Street, and when St. Philip's Church was demolished in 1963, its name was joined with that of St. Christopher's. The original church on Meadow Lane was destroyed in the same air raid that damaged the main building. ^[7]

A full history of the church can be found on the Southwell DAC Church History Project website.

Organ

The two manual pipe organ dates from the rebuilding of the church in 1953 and is by Cousans of Lincoln. The reeds were voiced by Billy Jones. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.

References

1. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
2. The Buildings of England. Nottinghamshire. Nikolaus Pevsner
3. "Shifting a church" . Nottingham Evening Post. England. 8 October 1909. Retrieved 21 January 2021– via British Newspaper Archive.
4. "Moving a church" . Nottingham Evening Post. England. 22 October 1909. Retrieved 21 January 2021– via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "A new Sneinton Church. St Christopher's consecrated by the Bishop of Southwell" . Nottingham Journal. England. 2 December 1910. Retrieved 21 January 2021– via British Newspaper Archive.
6. Nottingham Evening News 6 Dec 1952
7. <church archives>