Description

KNUTSFORD

SJ7478 MOBBERLEY ROAD
792-1/3/92 (West side)
15/01/74 Church of St Cross

GV II*

Parish church. 1880-1. Paley and Austin. Brick with red
terracotta dressings and red plain tiled and leaded roofs.
STYLE: Perpendicular.
PLAN: nave with 2 aisles, crossing tower, chancel and side
chapels.
EXTERIOR: west end has high 6-light window with outer arch
clasped between buttresses. Gabled aisle to north, 2-storeyed
vestry to south. Porch to west of north aisle, with deep
moulded archway and gabled niche above, all in terracotta. The
porch bay of the north wall is stressed with a decorative
parapet of terracotta panels. Windows of 2 lights flank a
central 3-light window, all with shallow arched heads and
Perpendicular tracery. The crossing window alone has Decorated
tracery. This bay is clasped by buttresses, that to east being
the main support for the crossing tower.
Tower has 4-light Decorated window with terracotta frieze over
in first stage, and square foiled lights above, with paired
bellchamber lights with blind traceried frieze in the upper
stage. Stone parapet with angle and central pinnacles. 3-light
window in chancel chapel.
Chancel east window of 5-lights with blind traceried panels to
each side and below. Tiny lancet window in base of gable
finial above. South aisle similar to north, but partly
obscured externally by addition of church hall.
INTERIOR: nave arcade of 3 bays to north, 2 bays to south (the
vestry occupying the space of the western bay). Stone hollow
chamfered octagonal piers with simple ring-moulded capitals
and double hollow chamfered arches. King post trusses to roof.
Moulding of crossing arch rises from plain brick responds,
with similar arch to chancel. Traceried timber chancel screen
with fan vaulting to canopy, and vine scroll carving. Pulpit
with sounding board, also traceried wood on stone plinth,
integral to screen.
Chancel has chapel to north, organ chamber to south. Sedilia
to south, with heavy terracotta Perpendicular tracery. Painted
riddle posts with angels to altar piece.
STAINED GLASS: to 3 chancel windows, unsigned, but a
medieval-style east window, Renaissance style to north and
south. Similar Renaissance-style window in north aisle, dated
1904. Glass by Morris and Co to designs by Burne-Jones in west

window, dated 1893, and representing the Adoration of the
Magi, flanked by prophets and apostles. East window of south
aisle also Morris and Co, the Good Samaritan, dated 1899.
SCULPTURE: low relief bronze Deposition from the Cross
depicting burial and deposition with landscape beyond, in
relief of subtly varying depth. Housed in pedimented wooden
case incorporated in pier of south nave arcade in 1912. Dated
1607, its provenance is unrecorded.

Listing NGR: SJ7564878555

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Cross Church, Knutsford at Wikipedia
• St Cross Church, Knutsford official website
• Wikidata Q7592894

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

• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)