Description

BOLTON

SD70NW HAG END BROW
797-1/4/104 (North East side)
26/04/74 Church of St Stephen and All Martyrs

II*

Parish church. 1842-45. Edmund Sharpe, architect. Terracotta
throughout, with slate roof.
PLAN: nave with west porch (intended as tower with spire), 2
transepts, shallow chancel and vestry.
EXTERIOR: flat roofed west porch with ball flower and text in
deep relief round arch of doorway; ornate ironwork to paired
doors. Flat western gable with full-height window above the
porch, its shafts with foliate capitals. 5-bay nave divided by
buttresses surmounted by finials. 2-light Decorated windows.
Parapet with openwork cusped scrolled decoration. Transepts
and chancel similarly enriched, with 4-light Decorated
windows.
INTERIOR: nave with crossing and 2 transepts. Shallow chancel
with original vestry in north-east angle. Hammerbeam roof with
collar truss and short king post, the main timber members
carried on terracotta corbels, and enriched with terracotta
cusping. Pendant flying beams over crossing similarly
enriched. Crossing arches all deeply moulded with ball flower
decoration.
Full height western arch with doorway and window over,
enriched with terracotta work in deep relief, with ball
flower, foliage and text. Elaborate decorative scheme in
sanctuary, all executed in terracotta: blind traceried wall
panelling forming reredos, incorporating prayer boards with
raised lettering set in ornate traceried and canopied panels.
Wall surfaces entirely made up of small foliate panels. Frieze
above continuous through both transepts, with raised lettering
and high relief foliate band. Similar foliate frieze forms
dado to nave seating.
Stalls throughout also incorporate terracotta work, as
traceried panels set into seat backs, and as bench ends, also
incorporating traceried panels. Terracotta canopied casing to
organ in south transept. Some applied decoration to responds
of crossing arch, stencilled motifs incompletely exposed at
time of inspection (January 1993). Window embrasures also
enriched with terracotta foliate bands in deep relief.
STAINED GLASS: pictorial stained glass in transepts possibly
contemporary with church; later C19 glass in chancel and nave
windows of various dates and styles including a representation
of the execution of Charles I, and at least one window by

Holiday.
HISTORY: the church was the first of the terracotta churches
built by Edmund Sharpe at the invitation of the terracotta
manufacturer John Fletcher, and is a remarkable demonstration
of the capabilities of the material.
(BOE: Pevsner N: South Lancashire: Harmondsworth: 1969-).

Listing NGR: SD7328008477

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Stephen and All Martyrs' Church, Lever Bridge at Wikipedia
• St Stephen and All Martyrs' Church, Lever Bridge official website
• Wikidata Q7595490

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)