St John's Church, Ellel

St John's Church, Ellel
St John's Church, Ellel, from the southwest
St John's Church, Ellel Location in the City of Lancaster district
53°59′46″N 2°47′08″W / 53.9961°N 2.7855°W / 53.9961; -2.7855
OS grid reference	SD 486,558
Location	Chapel Lane, Ellel, Lancashire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Churchmanship	Central
Website	St John the Evangelist, Ellel
History
Status	Parish church
Dedication	Saint John The Evangelist
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	2 May 1968
Architect(s)	Austin and Paley
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1906
Completed	1907
Specifications
Materials	Sandstone, tiled roof
Administration
Province	York
Diocese	Blackburn
Archdeaconry	Lancaster
Deanery	Lancaster and Morecambe
Parish	St John the Evangelist, Ellel
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Rev. Craig Abbott
Laity
Reader(s)	Diane Otto
Churchwarden(s)	Stephanie Carter, Helen Ballard

St John's Church is in Chapel Lane, Ellel, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Lancaster and Morecambe, the archdeaconry of Lancaster, and the diocese of Blackburn.^[1] The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.^[2] The authors of the Buildings of England series describe the appearance of the church as being "decidedly monumental".^[3]

St John's was a new church built in 1906–07 to replace a church of 1800 located on a different site. It was designed by the Lancaster architects Austin and Paley, and cost about £5,000 (equivalent to £670,000 in 2023),^[4] providing seating for 380 people. The original intention had been to build a spire on the tower but this never transpired.^[3][5]

The church is constructed in sandstone rubble, and it has a roof of red tiles. Its plan consists of a nave with a clerestory on the north side only, a north aisle, a south porch, a tower at the crossing with a north transept and vestry, and a chancel. In the south wall of the nave are three windows of three and two lights under segmental heads containing Perpendicular tracery. To the west of the windows is a porch with a doorway under a pointed arch, and a gable surmounted by a cross finial. To the right of the three windows is a smaller two-light window at a higher level, and a doorway. The windows in the north wall of the aisle have two or three lights under flat heads, and the clerestory windows have two lights with elliptical heads under flat lintels. The tower has buttresses on the north and south sides, and a square stair turret on the south side. Also on the south side, in the middle stage, is a window with a pointed head. In the top stage the bell openings have two lights, and on the summit of the tower is a plain coping. In the south wall of the chancel is a two-light window with a segmental head. The east window has five lights.^[2] Its tracery is in a mixture of Perpendicular and Decorated styles.^[3]

Inside the church is a six-bay arcade carried on alternating round and octagonal piers. In the chancel is a piscina.^[2] The stained glass consists of a scheme by Shrigley and Hunt dating from the early 20th century.^[3] The two-manual pipe organ was made by Ainscough of Preston.^[6]

The churchyard contains the war grave of a Royal Garrison Artillery soldier of World War I.^[7]

• Listed buildings in Ellel, Lancashire
• List of ecclesiastical works by Austin and Paley (1895–1914)