Description

ESKDALESIDE CUM UGGLEBARNBY

1320/0/10012 SLEIGHTS
12-JUL-05 Church of St John the Evangelist

II
Church, 1895, by Ewan Christian, architect, built by Padbury and Son of Scarborough, and including stained glass by CE Kempe. Built in Grosmont sandstone ashlar with Westmoorland slate roof laid in diminishing courses. Early English style.

PLAN:
Nave with single aisle and transept, both to north, with tower set in the angle between transept and chancel. Porch formed in west end of the north aisle.

EXTERIOR:
The facades are plain-faced with simple, slightly battered plinth, the chancel marked with an additional simple string course immediately below window sill level. All windows are simple lancets with plain carefully cut mouldings, the east and west windows highlighted with simple hood moulds. Nave gable, chancel arch and chancel gable all capped by ornate stone crosses. The chancel has a triple lancet east window and a single and double lancet in the south wall. South wall of the nave has two double and one single lancet. The north wall of the aisle (with door, a single and a triple lancet window) is continuous with that of the north transept gable with its triple lancet and the base of the tower with its double lancet. The west end has a pair of single lancets to the nave and a triple lancet to the porch. The tower is capped by a plain parapet and pyramidal slate roof. North aisle with catslide roof continuous with nave roof externally, but with shallower pitch.

INTERIOR:
Chancel: Windows with stained glass; hammer beam roof; ornamental oak panelled walls to just below window sill height, with oak reredos and altar also decorative, less ornamentation to choir stalls. Nave: all windows with stained glass, west windows and the two double lancets particularly notable; hammer beam roof; nave arcade on north side formed by two drum columns supporting pointed arches. North aisle: Windows are a triple lancet by Kempe 1903 and single lancet designed by local school children 1995; porch in west end of aisle with double doors to nave and externally, and a single door to the north aisle, lit by clear triple lancet. North transept: triple lancet by Kempe 1895, arch through to tower base filled with oak screen and door. Tower base houses the organ and vestry. Pews in nave, aisle and transept all face east and are set on raised parquet flooring.

Sources: Entries for Christian and Kempe in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2005 Oxford Univeristy Press.

The Church of St John the Evangelist in Sleights, one of Ewan Christian's last commissions, is of special architectural interest for its economical but high quality design of plan and detailing, its fine set of stained glass and complete set of wooden fixtures.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St John the Evangelist at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q26672113

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

• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version