Church of St. John the Evangelist, Lawley, Shropshire

Lawley was a small hamlet until coal and clay was discovered under the surface. This led to a rapid increase in the population estimated at 1,500 by the mid- 1860s. To serve the religious needs of the district, St John's Dawley Road, was built in 1865, originally as a chapel of ease. The site was donated by the Coalbrookdale Company – which employed most of Lawley's population at that time – and Lord Forrester. Building costs were borne by Henry Dickenson, a partners in the Coalbrookdale Company, and Mary Jones (nee Darby), among others. Built of red and yellow brick with stone dressings, it comprised a chancel with apse, north chapel, used since 1905 as a vestry, a south vestry, now used as a boiler house, a southwest turret and spire and a nave with gallery and south porch.  Not long after the church opened, the population of the district began to dwindle. Within ten years, the coal had been worked out, and there was mass migration from the area.

ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, LAWLEY, SALOP - On another page we give an illustration of the new parish church just built at Lawley, an outlying district of the parish of Wellington, Salop. The church was consecrated on the 13th of September, by the Bishop of Lichfield. It is in the First Pointed style. It is built with local (Light moor) bricks, the heads and sills of doors and windows being of local stone, and the whole enlivened with bands and arches of red bricks. The roofs are open-timbered, slightly stained and varnished. The floors are all laid with red and black tiles in patterns. The pulpit, reading desk, and seats, are simple in character, and finished with varnish only. The font was executed by Mr. Fabbricotti, of London, from the architect's design, and is placed at the west end near to the entrance. It is simple but handsome in design, and is composed of marble, the bowl and base of vein, the shaft of Rouge Royal, the whole standing on two steps of sanded stone from the adjacent quarry. The plan of the church is a nave 64ft. by 24ft. and chancel 31ft. by 17ft., with north transept for children 18ft. by 11ft, vestry 9ft. by 9ft., with tower and spire 72ft. high to vane in the south-east angle, and a south-west porch. The church will accommodate 302 persons. The sittings are all free. The cost was £1,200. It was built by Messrs. Nevett, of Ironbridge, from designs by and under the direction of Mr. John Ladds, architect, Lincoln's Inn-fields, London. It is provided with a bell from the foundry of Messrs. Mears, London. The communion-rail and standards were prepared by Mr. T. Brawn, of Birmingham, from designs by the architect. [Building News 1 December 1865 page 846] 

A CHURCH FOR TWELVE HUNDRED POUNDS - One of our page illustrations this week represents a church recently erected in Shropshire, by Mr. J. Ladds, architect, for £1,200. The church is neatly designed, and substantially built with good material. We have seen all the working drawings, and they indicate neatness, with arrangement and strength, the three primary qualifications which should characterise a village church. Are there not scores—yea, hundreds-of places in England, which stand in need of such churches and chapels? and are there not an equal number of men and women sufficiently rich and benevolently inclined to build such churches and chapels? We think there are. And when it is known that a handsome, substantial little church can be built for so comparatively small a sum, we may expect to see more structures similar to that designed by Mr. Ladds springing up in many a country village. [Building News 1 December 1865 page 851]

ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, LAWLEY, SALOP. A CHURCH FOR £1,200. A SHORT time since we gave a perspective view of this church, and we now give some details of construction of the same. It was erected in 1865 by Messrs. Nevett Brothers, of Ironbridge, from designs by, and under the direction of, Mr. John Ladds, architect, of 51, Lincoln’s-Inn-fields, W.C. It is an illustration of what may be fairly termed a cheap and appropriate church. The materials used are the local bricks for walls, and local stone (for heads and sills of win dows only, which is all that is necessary), the jambs and all angles being built square with bricks, so as to save the usual unnecessary stone groins. The main walls are all 2ft. 5in. thick, with extra thick walls for the gables, and strong buttresses to all the principals. The floors are laid with tiles, and each seat will be fitted with a movable wood floor, to facilitate cleansing, as the congregation will consist mostly of work men from the adjacent coal mines and iron works. The contract was taken at £1,217, including all the fittings, but the font, communion rail, and pulpit have since been presented at a small extra cost on the above amount, and a bell from the foundry of Messrs. Mears has been hung in the tower, which was not at first contemplated. The porch (see detail No. 1) has flat shafts composed of rounded bricks, with ornamental base, zone, and caps of the local stone; the inside ring of arch is of stone, double moulded, with a red brick arch over it of the full thickness of wall. The doors throughout are framed square (see detail No. 2) covered with V-jointed boarding, hung with wrought-iron ornamental strap hinges to proper hooks. The standards, of wrought iron and ornamental brass, with ornamental oak rail to communion, have been executed by Mr. Thos. Brawn, of Birmingham, from working drawings by the architect. All the windows have moulded stone heads on the outside, and red brick arches on the inside. The external sills are stone, and the inside are brick on edge in cement, with rounded angle (see details Nos. 3 and 4). The shaft to carry arches from transept to chancel is built up with the local bricks with rounded angles (see detail No. 5), and has ornamental base, zone, and carved caps. The arches are of red brick, double moulded, and the outside ring of arches is of Staffordshire blue brick 4½in. wide. [Building News 26 January 1866 page 56]

Reference    Builder 9 April 1864 page 268 – tenders
Reference    Building News 1 December 1865 page 851
Reference    Building News 1 December 1865 page 846
Reference    Building News 26 January 1866 page 56