A fit-for-purpose design of the 1970s by Lanner of Wakefield. 

The old settlement here was a pit village; the colliery closed in 1968. After the 1974 reorganisation of local government many privately-owned houses were built on what had been agricultural land and the population increased considerably.

The parish was erected in 1963 and a parish hall built in 1964, originally serving also as a church. A plan by the architect David Brown in the diocesan archives shows the suggested form of the proposed future church, of conventional longitudinal plan. By the time the church was finally built, fashions in church design, and possibly a reduced budget, led to a smaller church, square on plan, built by Lanner of Wakefield. This seated 400 was consecrated on 11 June 1979.

Description

A wide, low, square brick building, with flat roofs felt-covered and pitched roofs tiled. The northeast section of the roof is raised to allow a full-width clerestory to light the main part of the church. Inside, laminated diagonal trusses are exposed and rise to the apex of the roof (marked externally by a cross finial). Ritual east is approximately at actual north. Windows are tall and narrow and have fixed lights, later filled with stained glass by a local designer.  Pews have back rails and solid pew ends. The floor of the sanctuary is carpeted, of the nave, woodblock parquet. The altar and its dais are placed on the diagonal axis. The marble furnishings in the sanctuary are simple in design, of slabs or blocks. The octagonal stone font stands on a square stem and plinth at the foot of the sanctuary steps. 

Heritage Details