Wycliffe Congregational Church, Bewsey Street, Warrington

Of brick with round windows and a square north west tower with pyramid roof. [Pevsner]

WARRINGTON - On Good Friday the foundation stone of the Wycliffe New Congregational Church was laid. The interior of the building will be in the Byzantine style, freely treated. The principal front consists of a bold gable, with cornice or pediment, together with two doorways, having polished pillars, carved capitals, moulded bases, labels, etc, flanked on each side with two staircase towers, terminating with slated spires. The whole of the walling will be of bricks, faced externally below the base with hammer dressed walling, the remainder with Platt's patent pressed bricks, having ashlar dressings from the Minera quarries. The church is 94 feet long by 61 feet wide, exclusive of the towers at each angle, each of which project 14 feet. Accommodation will be provided for 1,010 persons, 488 being in the body and 522 in the gallery, including 162 scholars. The architect is George Woodhouse, Esq, of Bolton; the contractor for the whole of the work is Mr W Richardson, Warrington; and Mr Ephraim Auckland is entrusted with the sub contract for the stonework. The contract for the erection of the church was taken at £6,318. [Building News 5 April 1872 page 283]

WARRINGTON - On Thursday week the new Wycliffe Congregational Church at Warrington was opened. The church is in the Byzantine style, and has been built from designs prepared by Mr. George Woodhouse, Bolton. The whole of the walls are built of brick, faced externally below the base with hammer-dressed walling the remainder with Platt's patent pressed bricks, the several arches and strings being of varied shade, giving to the whole of the exterior a neat and marked appearance. The chapel, including the galleries, will accommodate about 1,010 persons. Mr. William Richardson, of Warrington, is the contractor for the whole of the works. The total cost of the church, including boundary walls and heating, will be about £7,000. [Building News 12 September 1873 page 296]

WARRINGTON - A new Congregational Church, situated at the corner of Bewsey and Edgeworth- streets, was opened on Thursday, the 4th inst. The style of architecture adopted is Byzantine, freely treated, and it is a large and commodious building of handsome exterior. The church is parallelogram in form, 94ft. by 61 ft., and having separate tower at each angle; the one at principal corner being 120ft. in height. The other three are each 50ft. high to base of terminals, each tower containing stone staircases leading from vestibules and principal entrances in front, and wide passages and entrances at back, and side elevations, communicating with the galleries, which are very commodious. The end gallery over vestibules is circular; the orchestra, which is wide and lefty, is situated at the back of the pulpit. The gallery and roofs are supported by coupled cast-iron columns, with enriched caps, strings, etc. The ceiling in centre is segmental, which is of great service for acoustic purposes; the sides of ceiling are flat, the whole divided into panels with bold moulded cornices, etc. The whole of the church is well ventilated. Under the orchestra there is a large vestry 29ft. by 16ft 6in., and four other vestries each 16ft. by 13ft. The church will seat about 1,100 persons. The whole of the works, with the exception of heating, has been very satisfactorily carried out by Mr. William Richardson, contractor, from designs and under the superintendence of Mr. George Woodhouse, architect, Bolton. The heating was done by Messrs. Whittaker and Constantine, of Bolton. The cost of the building is about £7,000. [Building News 26 September 1873 page 353-354]

Reference        Building News 5 April 1872 page 283
Reference        Building News 12 September 1873 page 296
Reference        Building News 26 September 1873 page 353-354
Reference        Pevsner: Lancashire South