Church Micro 10993 . . . Ashton-on-Ribble
This short easy multi will introduce you to St Andrew's parish church in Ashton, which is where I attended the attached primary school from 1955-1961!
The cache, a micro tube, is hidden nearby - but not on the church premises. The given coordinates are for Step 1.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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To reach the location: you should be able to find road-side parking either on Newton Road @ or near N 53 46.158 W 2 44.098 or on St Andrew's Avenue @ or near N 53 46.191 W 2 44.143.
Step 1: pass through the church-yard entrance gate @ N 53 46.155 W 2 44.177 and head left (east) to N 53 46.153 W 2 44.162 where you will find the grave of Arthur Lunt who held an important post from 1952-58 when he died. The alphanumeric value of the middle letter of this post = A
Step 2: move down to N 53 46.141 W 2 44.152 the location of the grave of Cordelia Marsh who died in 1964 aged BB years
Step 3: onwards a short distance to N 53 46.139 W 2 44.168 where you will be standing in front of the main entrance to the church. You will note that the two doors have a total of C reinforced glass panes.
Step 4: now head up the path towards the entrance. At say N 53 46.147 W 2 44.174 (or any convenient place) look left and you will see D large lime trees along the western side of the church yard.
Step 5: as you exit the gate, just on your right @ N 53 46.155 W 2 44.176, there is a tall lamp post with the vertical number 19E
The cache is hidden at:
N 53 46.(D-E+1)AB W 2 44.(B-D-1)(E-A)(C-3)
St Andrew's Church is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Preston, the archdeaconry of Lancaster, and the diocese of Blackburn. It is within the Conservative Evangelical tradition of the Church of England. Its benefice* is united with that of St Michael and All Angels, Ashton-on-Ribble. As a parish that rejects the ordination of women, it receives alternative episcopal oversight from the Bishop of Maidstone.
* a parish or group of parishes, normally under the care of a single stipendiary (paid) minister
The church is recorded in National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
In 1834, as the population of Ashton, Lea, Ingol and Cottam neared 700, it was decided that there was a need for a church in West Preston. Revd. Roger Carus Wilson, the Vicar of Preston, provided the impetus for this project to get underway. Nearly £4,000 was raised and the foundation stone was laid on 20 August 1835.
It was not until over a year later that the consecration ceremony for St. Andrew’s Church was performed on 7 October 1836, by the Right Revd. Dr. Sumner, Lord Bishop of the Diocese of Chester (the Diocese of Blackburn did not exist at the time). This first church building seated about 300.
The Vicarage was built around 1840 and used to boast a coach house, servants’ quarters and large paddock - sadly all gone now. The School was first opened on 18 May 1842, with the
original buildings being situated in what is now the Church Hall. These were built from 1844-45
As the population of the area reached 2,000 it was clear that the old building was no longer able to accommodate the growing congregation. A meeting was held on 7 December 1870 and it was eventually decided that the church needed to be almost entirely rebuilt. More than £2,000 was raised and in 1873–74 the architect Ewan Christian added a north aisle and converted the nave windows into Early English style, to constitute present church which was reopened on 2 July 1874. A new school was built in 1895 and a vestry added in 1902.
St. Andrew’s went on to plant St. Michael’s Church, Ashton-on-Ribble (1908), St. Margaret’s Church, Ingol (1925) and St. Christopher’s Church, Lea (1939) as the population of the area continued to grow. The shields of the latter two churches can be seen on the screen at the front of the church which was installed in 1936 for the 100th Anniversary.
Architectural Features
The church is constructed in sandstone with slate roofs. Its plan consists of a four-bay nave, a wide north aisle, a north porch, a chancel with an organ chamber to the north, a vestry to the east, and a small west tower. The tower is in Romanesque style, and the rest of the church is in Early English style. The tower is in three stages, with buttresses, and a short broach spire. In the bottom stage are two round-headed lancet windows, with a similar but larger window in the middle stage. The bell openings are louvred, and consist of triple round-headed lancets. Along the sides of the nave and the aisle are three two-light windows, and a three-light window in the eastern bay.
Inside the church, the arcade is carried on cylindrical piers of polished pink granite. In the chancel is a sedilia. On the wall of the church are monuments to members of the Pedder family (see here for some interesting background on this family). The stained glass in the east window is by Hardman. The three-manual organ was built in 1902 by Henry Willis & Sons. It was overhauled in 1969 by J. W. Walker, and again in 2001 by Wood of Huddersfield.
The churchyard contains the war graves of a Royal Air Force officer of World War I, and an Army Dental Corps officer and Royal Army Medical Corps sergeant of World War II.