| St.
John's Church Building History |
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| The
cornerstone of St. John's was laid in 1851 and the church was consecrated in
1853 as the parish church for Birkby, Fartown, Cowcliffe and Fixby, by the
Bishop of Ripon. The money for the fabric was bequeathed by local landowner Sir John
Ramsden of Fixby Hall. Built of local stone, the church is in the Decorated Gothic style. It has a five bay Nave with 'lean-to' aisles and both North and South Porches. The whole church is covered with steeply pitched slate roofs. To the south of the chancel is a four stage tower with a three stage steeple on top;- the highest in the Wakefield Diocese (except for the Cathedral) at 220ft. The church is 116ft long and 48ft wide. It was built to seat 531 people and to hold an extra 150 in an emergency. The architect of St. Johns was William Butterfield, famous for his strikingly confident gothic design in polychromic churches and the builder was Joseph Kaye who built many local churches in West Yorkshire. Internally the church met Tractarian requirements (of which Butterfield was a strong advocate), with the emphasis towards the altar. Externally the characteristically off-centre spire emphasised the gothic verticality, as opposed to the horizontal stress of classical forms. Other buildings by Butterfield include Balliol College Oxford and Melbourne Cathedral, together with many churches in central London. The east window was made in 1925 by James Powell of London at a cost of 2000 guineas and is still in memory of the fallen soldiers of the first World War. The west window is in the style of William Morris. Information: D Teevan |
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