Listed Building: Rothwell United Reform Church (1213989)

Congregational church, now United Reformed Church. 1735, with additions 1762. Further additions in Romanesque style, 1826 and 1852. Coursed and squared ironstone with stone dressings and hipped slate roof. Chamfered plinths throughout. Main front has stepped dentillated cornice and moulded parapet and gable inscribed with dates. Round headed openings all have projecting architraves with keystones. Projecting 2-bay centre has 2 windows. Beyond, on either side, a doorway with fanlight. Above, 4 smaller double windows. Between the central pair a datestone inscribed "1826". Each side of the church has 3 round headed windows and above, 3 C19 cross casements, all with keystoned heads. North side has a slightly projecting centre with, above, a re-set datestone inscribed "1676". South end has a central gabled organ chamber with a single casement high up in each side. South west corner has an adjoining gabled lecture room, 2 bays, 1909. South east corner has an adjoining gabled vestry with, to south, a blocked door and above it a datestone inscribed "1762". Interior: the body of the church has on each side 3 patterned stained glass windows. To the front, a pilastered recess containing a platform and a Reinaissance Revival style organ case, 1898. At the rear and on each side, a panelled gallery with dentillated frieze, on fluted iron piers. Panelled ceiling with moulded cornice and 4 rosette vents. Entrance lobbies each have cantilevered stone staircases with iron stick balusters. Sunday School room between lobbies has 2 C19 stained glass windows. Gallery above has a moulded cornice and a fitted cupboard at each end. Remodelled roof has softwood principal rafter and queen post trusses. Fittings include round cornered mid C19 oak pulpit with stairs each side. Plain benches, 1852, in the body of the church, those at the sides angled. Early C19 box pews in the gallery. Memorials include an arch-topped bronze war memorial tablet, 1918, and 4 other C20 tablets. Rothwell's Independent Church was established in 1655, holding its meetings in a barn said to have stood on the site of the present church. It was an important local centre of noncomformity, particularly during the ministry of Richard Davis, 1690-1714.

Record last edited

Jul 17 2023 4:10PM