Tower: St John’s Church, Hartford

HARTFORD - The tower which has just been added to St. John's Church, Hartford, was dedicated on Thursday, the 14th inst., by the Bishop of Chester. The design of the new structure was prepared by Messrs. Douglas and Fordham, architects, Chester, and Mr. James Holland, of Northwich, was the contractor, and Messrs. Rylance and Taylor, of Northwich, executed the woodwork. The tower is square in form and 70ft. high, with a circular turret staircase on the south side, the top of the turret being 4ft. higher than the tower, and surmounted with a flagstaff. The tower is built of red stone for dressings, with red stone scutched work for the angles and turret, and the spaces between the dressings and scutched work is filled in with tegnose wall stones from Macclesfield quarries. The walls at the base are 6ft. thick, and 3ft. 6in. at the top, and are finished above the roof with a battlemented coping. The stone for the dressings to windows, corbels, cornice, and coping is from Holland's quarry, in Delamere Forest, and the red stone for internal face of walls and scutched work was purchased by the Building Committee from the trustees of the river Weaver, being the stone of which their church was built at Winsford, and which had to be taken down in consequence of the subsidence of the ground. The roof of the tower is covered with lead, and is surmounted with a vane staff and gilded vane, secured by iron stays with scrolls at the top. The bottom floor of the tower is laid with Ruabon red tiles. A large clock has been placed in the tower by Mr. Joyce, of Whitchurch, Salop. [Building News 29 April 1887 page 659]

Reference        Building News 29 April 1887 page 659