St James' Church, Briercliffe facts for kids

Quick facts for kids St James' Church, Briercliffe
St James' Church, Briercliffe, from the east
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OS grid reference	SD 867 349
Location	Church Street, Briercliffe, Lancashire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Churchmanship	Liberal Anglo-Catholic
Website	St James, Briercliffe
History
Status	Parish church
Dedication	Saint James the Great
Consecrated	26 September 1841
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	10 March 1987
Architect(s)	Edmund Sharpe Paley and Austin
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1839
Completed	1992
Specifications
Materials	Sandstone, slate roof
Administration
Parish	St James, Briercliffe
Deanery	Burnley
Archdeaconry	Blackburn
Diocese	Blackburn
Province	York

St James' Church is a beautiful old church located on Church Street in Briercliffe, Lancashire, England. It's an active Anglican church, which means it's part of the Church of England. It serves as a parish church for the local community. This special building is officially recognized as a Grade II listed building, meaning it's an important historical structure.

History of St James' Church

St James' Church was built between 1839 and 1841. It was designed by a famous architect from Lancaster named Edmund Sharpe. The church cost about £1,300 to build back then. Most of this money was collected from people who wanted to help. The land for the church was kindly given by the Duke of Buccleuch.

The church was officially opened and blessed on September 26, 1841. This ceremony was led by Bishop John Bird Sumner, who was the Bishop of Chester at the time. When it first opened, the church could seat 515 people. In 1843, the area around St James' was made into its own church district.

Later, in 1869, a new steeple was added to the church. Other changes were also made by the architects Paley and Austin. They took over Edmund Sharpe's business in Lancaster. In 1881, new benches (called pews) were put in, and the old pulpit was removed. More recently, in 1992, the choir's changing room was made bigger, and a new meeting room was built.

Church Design and Features

Outside the Church

The church is built from sandstone and has a roof made of stone slate. It's designed in a style called Early English Gothic, which is a type of Gothic Revival style. The church has a main hall called a nave and a shorter section at the east end called a chancel. There's also a tall tower at the west end.

The roof is very steep. Even though the roof looks like it has three parts, the inside of the church is one big room with a flat ceiling. The walls of the nave have special supports called pilaster buttresses. Between these supports are tall, narrow windows known as lancet windows.

The tower at the west end has two main parts. The bottom part has the main entrance door. Above the door are more lancet windows and pointed decorations called gables. From this part, an eight-sided section rises up. This section holds the church bells and has lancet windows. On top of this is a short, eight-sided spire. At the very east end of the church, there's a beautiful window made of three lancet windows placed in steps.

Inside the Church

Inside St James' Church, you'll find balconies, called galleries, on three sides. These galleries are held up by strong cast iron columns. The galleries have special seating areas called box pews.

The church also has a large organ. This organ has two keyboards, called manuals. It was built in 1865 by a company named Foster and Andrews from Hull. They also made improvements to the organ in 1901 and 1906. Later, in 1927, another company, Jardine and Company from Manchester, cleaned the organ. They also fixed it up in 1989.

Why St James' Church is Special

Experts have different opinions about St James' Church. In a famous book series about buildings, it's called "a small, rather strange church." However, another expert, Hughes, thinks it's "one of Edmund Sharpe's more delightful designs." The official description in the National Heritage List for England says it's special because it's an "unusually unaltered example of an early 19th-century church." This means it still looks very much like it did when it was first built in the 1800s.

Churchyard Features

The church has a churchyard around it. In this churchyard, there are war graves. These are the burial places of soldiers who died serving their country. There are five graves from World War I and two from World War II.

See also

• Listed buildings in Briercliffe
• List of architectural works by Edmund Sharpe
• List of ecclesiastical works by Paley and Austin