St John’s Church Market Street Hindley near Wigan

The memorial stones have just been laid for this building. The new church, plans for which were prepared by Messrs. W Waddington & Son of Manchester, and the building of which has been entrusted to Messrs. Preston and Hurst, builders and contractors, of Wigan, is being erected at a cost of £6,000

LISTING TEXT - Methodist church with ancillary rooms attached. 1900‑1 by William Waddington & Son (a practice that specialised in non‑conformist churches). Coursed rubble with red sandstone dressings. Diminishing Westmoreland and slate roofs. Church aligned N‑S;S.W. steeple over porch, storeyed NW porch, nave, transepts, apsidally‑ended chancel flanked by vestries; small apsidally‑ended meeting hall attached aligned E‑W. Round‑headed windows throughout with free, very simple tracery only to the front windows and steeple. The entrance front is an original and bold design: SW steeple, octagonal, the tower of 4 unequal storeys mostly of red sandstone with alternating blank windows and belfry openings, the spire with gabled lucarnes, the whole rising out of the storeyed porch, gabled to 2 sides, with large 2‑light windows to gallery level. Large round‑headed doorway of several orders. Very large tripartite window to nave with smaller 3‑light window below, all in red sandstone. Stender SE octagonal turret; continuous sill and impost bands throughout. SE porch recessed, with similar doorway to that of the SW porch, set under simple lancets. Simple single or paired tall lancets to other elevations. Transept and chancel (with canted apse), vestries and meeting hall, all under varying‑roof lines form an interesting grouping when viewed from NW.

Interior: end gallery with panelled frontal; impressive roof, coffered and coved, with moulded ties and king‑posts, the pseudo ridge‑piece made up of ventilators. Coffered panels with decorative plasterwork. Chancel with blind round‑headed niches between windows. Furnishings: simple benches with shaped ends; stone front panelled pulpit; boarded dado. Coloured patterned glass throughout.

St John's Church provides the only major architectural accent in the central part of Hindley and includes design elements of considerable originality.

Reference           Manchester Guardian 6 August 1898