St Peter's Church, Fleetwood

St Peter's
St Peter's Church, from the south
St Peter's Location in Fleetwood
Coordinates: 53°55′26″N3°00′34″W / 53.9239°N 3.0094°W / 53.9239; -3.0094
OS grid reference	SD 338 480
Location	Fleetwood, Lancashire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
History
Status	Parish church
Consecrated	1841
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	31 March 1978 (1978-03-31)
Architect(s)	Decimus Burton, Paley and Austin (1883 extension)
Administration
Deanery	Poulton
Archdeaconry	Lancaster
Diocese	Blackburn
Province	York

St Peter's Church is in the seaside town of Fleetwood, Lancashire, England, situated on the Fylde coast. It is an active Anglican parish church in the Diocese of Blackburn. It was completed in 1841, to a design by Decimus Burton. Burton had been employed by Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood in 1836 to lay out the new planned town of Fleetwood. It is protected as a Grade II listed building. ^[1]

History

Fleetwood is a 19th-century planned town, the creation of local landowner and Preston MP, Sir Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood. In 1836, he employed Decimus Burton to lay out the new town. The new parish church was one of the buildings Burton designed. It was built in 1839–41 (Hesketh-Fleetwood laid the foundation stone) and consecrated in 1841. ^{[2] [3]} Hesketh-Fleetwood's aunt, Anna-Maria Hesketh of Tulketh Hall, financed the construction of the tower and spire; the spire was taken down in 1904 for safety reasons. ^[3] In 1883, the east end of the church was altered by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin, who added a chancel, a transeptal chapel and an organ chamber. ^{[1] [2]} These alterations cost £3,000 (equivalent to £300,000in 2019). ^{[4] [5]}

Architecture

St Peter's stands on a raised piece of land in the town centre. ^[6] Surrounded by an iron palisade, it is constructed of grey rock-faced stone with red sandstone ashlar dressings. ^[2] The side walls and the tower have lancet windows. The nave is aisleless. Of the church's design, architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner commented "It could be by anybody." ^[2]

The church has space for 400 people; originally 200 more could be accommodated in the galleries to the north and south; these were removed in 1960. ^{[6] [7]}

Assessment and administration

St Peter's was designated a Grade II listed building on 31 March 1978. ^[1]

St Peter's is an active parish church in the Anglican Diocese of Blackburn, which is part of the Province of York. It is in the archdeaconry of Lancaster and the Deanery of Poulton. ^[8]

See also

• Listed buildings in Fleetwood
• List of ecclesiastical works by Paley and Austin

References

Footnotes

1. Historic England. "Church of St Peter, Fleetwood (1072393)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 28 April 2011.
2. Hartwell & Pevsner (2009), p. 292
3. "History of Wyre — Fleetwood", Wyre Borough Council Online, retrieved 17 September 2010
4. 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 2 February 2020.
5. Brandwood et al. 2012 , p. 234.
6. Porter (1876), pp. 222–23
7. "Fleetwood, St Peter", Open Churches Trust, retrieved 17 September 2010
8. "Church Details: Fleetwood St Peter", blackburn.anglican.org, Diocese of Blackburn, retrieved 14 September 2011

Sources

• Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon: English Heritage, ISBN   978-1-84802-049-8
• Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) [1969]. Lancashire: North . New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN   0-300-12667-0.
• Porter, John (1876). History of the Fylde of Lancashire. W. Porter. OCLC   12931605.

External links

Media related to St Peter's Church, Fleetwood at Wikimedia Commons