Listed Building record MDR13474 - St John's Church, St John's Road, Chesterfield

St John's Church, St John's Road, Chesterfield, built in 1857. According to Bulmer's Directory, the parish church of Newbold, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, is situated at Littlemoor. It is a small stone building, erected in 1857, at a cost of about £1,000. The south porch is surmounted by an octagonal spire containing one bell. The style is Gothic, but the fabric does not possess any architectural pretensions. The east window is filled with richly stained glass, representing amongst other subjects the Crucifixion; and beneath this, is an old oak reredos bearing the date 1698. (1) The Newbold Chapel on this site would have been, at one time, the mother church of Chesterfield. This chapel, in turn, stood on the site of an earlier Norman building, parts of which were incorporated into the chapel. However it was badly damaged during the reign of William III and was subsequently used as a cowshed and barn until replaced with the new church by Flockton & Son in 1857. The wide north and south aisles by WHR Blacking were added in 1957. (2) From the National Heritage List for England: '908/13/226 26-SEP-77 ST JOHN'S ROAD (North side) PARISH CHURCH OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST II Parish church of 1857, with aisles added in 1957. Architect unknown. MATERIALS: Rock-faced gritstone, slate roof. PLAN: Aisled nave with lower and narrower chancel, west spire, south porch and south organ chamber and north vestry. EXTERIOR: The church was built in the Decorated style. The nave west front retains its original detail, with full-height central buttress supporting an octagonal arcaded bellcote below a short spirelet. The buttress is flanked by single-light windows with trefoil tracery lights, and narrow 1-light windows in the gable. Aisles are the minimal Gothic of the 1950s. The south side has three 4-light mullioned windows and porch at the left end. The north aisle, which is roughcast, has 2 similar windows and 1957 link to the 1989 church hall. The chancel has diagonal buttresses, 3-light east window, 2 south windows with trefoil tracery lights, and a similar window on the north side. The south organ chamber has a pointed east doorway and segmental-headed south doorway. Its roof is concealed behind a parapet. Lean-to north vestry. INTERIOR: The 4-bay C19 nave roof has arched-brace trusses on corbels. The chancel arch is double chamfered, the inner order on corbels. To its right is a 1957 piscina. The chancel has a plastered polygonal roof. Nave arcades, 4-bay to the south and 3-bay to the north, are low-key with square piers chamfered at the corners, and segmental double-chamfered arches, all plastered, as are the walls. Parquet floors are 1957 but the sanctuary retains a C19 tile floor. PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: The west gallery was built in 1957, and has a panelled front. The plain octagonal font is C19. The pulpit, designed in the late C20 by Derek Scattergood, is polygonal and incorporates a Chi-Rho monogram. He also designed the choir stalls in the nave. In the chancel are benches with fielded-panel backs and ends, probably after 1957 when the chancel was made a chapel. Rood beam and figures are c1938. Beneath the sill of the east window is a strip of carved wood dated 1698 and decorated with serpents. Its provenance is not known but it was placed there after 1957. The crucifixion east window is probably of 1859. There are 2 panels from a c1901 Nativity window in the south aisle. There is a brass 1914-18 war memorial plaque and, in the north aisle, carving of the Virgin and Child in a niche, a memorial to Robert Clark (d 1917 at Passchendaele). HISTORY: A small aisleless parish church built in 1857, but the architect is not known. Post-war suburban development necessitated enlargement of the church. Aisles were added in 1957 when a west gallery was added and the sanctuary was moved to the east end of the nave, leaving the chancel as a chapel. There have been further interior re-orderings from the 1970s. The porch was added in 2007. SOURCES: Pevsner, N., (revised E. Williamson), The Buildings of England: Derbyshire (1978), 148. REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The church of St John the Evangelist, Newbold, Chesterfield, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It is a modest C19 Gothic-revival church retaining original detail. * The church forms a group with the adjacent Vicarage and other associated listed items. This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Register. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 17 August 2017.' (3)