Church of Sr Wilfrid, Witton Street, Northwich

The foundation stone of a new Roman Catholic Church, to be dedicated to St. Wilfrid, was laid yesterday at Northwich. The congregation there have hitherto assembled for divine worship on Sunday, under the pastorate of the Rev. J. Fennelly, In a room used on other days for public entertainments. A desire for a church has long been felt, and the collection of subscriptions toward this object were commenced two or three years ago. The site which was at length obtained is a square piece of ground in Witton Street, a short di5tance from the railway station. It proposed that, if the subscriptions are sufficient, a church standing east and west shall be erected on the south side, and a presbytery for one priest on the east side; so that a large open space shall remain in front of the building. The cost of the entire structure would be £1,545; but the church. which will cost about £1,300 will be first proceeded with. The style of architecture will be early English. The church will be 88 feet 6 inches long by 44 feet 6 inches wide, and it will seat upwards of 400, besides affording standing accommodation at the west end for another 100. Great trouble has been experienced in adopting proper precautions against dangers that might result from the running brine, which at Northwich has a tendency to loosen the sand to undermine the foundations, and to weaken buildings. The foundations of the church have been made as secure as possible; the walls are to be very low; and columns of wood, after the model of some of the old Cheshire Churches, have for greater safety been adopted in preference to stone pillars and arches. The exterior of the church (which to be built of brick, the window sills over the coping alone being of stone) will be very plain, but the architect has endeavoured to secure breadth of effect in the roof, which will be in one span, and covered with Bangor red and blue slates. The church will consist, of five bays, which will be divided by brick buttresses with moulded tops and weatherings.  The difference between the chancel and the nave will be strongly marked, and at the junction of the two will be a spirelet bell turret, strongly framed in wood, covered with slate, and surmounted with a metal cross. The church is to be entered by a large porch ornamented with moulded bricks, on the north side, facing the street, and consists of a nave and north and south aisles, with a space at the west end railed off for a baptistry. There is also to be a side chapel, a sacristy, with every convenient fitting, and the presbytery wilt be convenient to the sacristy. The roof, which will be lined with board stained and varnished, will be supported by columns of wood, strongly framed together with principals. The floor under the benches will be of wood, the other portion of it will be tiled. The chancel will be entered by steps, will contain the altar now in use, and will be lighted with a triplet of lancets and by a vesica window. The aisles are to be lighted by lancet windows in couplets, and the nave by large windows in the east and west ends. The architect is Mr Edmund Kirby, Birkenhead, a pupil of Mr Pugin; Messrs Lester and Dninkwater, of Northwich, are the contractors, and Mr Holland is the clerk of the works. A large number of the working population were present to witness the ceremony yesterday. Priests in their vestments, and school children bearing flags, walked. in procession to the site. The stone was laid by the Rev. Canon Frith, rural dean, Stockport. [Manchester Guardian 26 August 1864 page 3].

ST. WILFRED'S, NORTHWICH, CHESHIRE - Foreign First Pointed; nave, aisles, chancel, side-chapel, and presbytery for one priest on east; interior pillars of wood, framed and braced with the roof; cornices and window-jambs of moulded bricks; 400 sittings; cost £1,5451. Architect, Mr. E. Kirby, of Liverpool. [British Almanac and Companion Vol 40 1867]

The interior is an extraordinary tour-de-force of decorative timbering, including aisle posts and arcading, curved wind braces and elaborately detailed roof trusses with arch braces, diagonal latticework and arches rising from the tie-beams. As is clear in the Guardian report the decision to construct much of the building in timber was made for sound structural reasons. This is hardly the wilfulness of a rouge architect as suggested in the Buildings of England

Reference    Manchester Guardian 26 August 1864 page 3
Reference    British Almanac and Companion Volume 40 1867 page 161]
Reference    Hartwell, Hyde, Hubbard, Pevsner. Buildings of England: Cheshire page 513-514