St Mark's Church, Dolphinholme

St Mark's Church, Dolphinholme
St Mark's Church, Dolphinholme
	St Mark's Church, Dolphinholme, from the south
	St Mark's Church, Dolphinholme Location in the City of Lancaster district
	53°58′26″N 2°44′16″W / 53.9739°N 2.7377°W
OS grid reference	SD 517,534
Location	Dolphinholme, Lancashire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Mark, Dolphinholme
History
Status	Parish church
Dedication	Saint Mark
Consecrated	25 January 1899
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	2 May 1968
Architect(s)	Austin and Paley
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1897
Completed	1899
Construction cost	£3,000
Specifications
Materials	Sandstone, slate roofs
Administration
Province	York
Diocese	Blackburn
Archdeaconry	Lancaster
Deanery	Lancaster and Morecambe
Parish	St Mark, Dolphinholme
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Revd Cindy J. Rigney
Laity
Reader(s)	Anne Brigg
Churchwarden(s)	Catherine Helm; Ruth Chapman
Parish administrator	Ms D. Entwistle

St Mark's Church is in the village of Dolphinholme, 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. Its benefice is united with those of Christ Church, Over Wyresdale, and St Peter, Quernmore.^[1] The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.^[2]

History

St Mark's was built between 1897 and 1898 to a design by the Lancaster architects Austin and Paley.^[3]^[4] The church was built to replace an older church erected some 60 years earlier for the use of local mill workers.^[1] The new church cost £3,300 (equivalent to £470,000 in 2023),^[5] and provided seating for 497 people. It was consecrated on 25 January 1899.^[4]

Architecture

The church is constructed in sandstone rubble, with a green slate roof. Its plan consists of a three-bay nave, a north aisle, a north porch, and a chancel. At the crossing is a tower, with a north transept, and a lean-to extension to the south. At the southwest corner of the tower is a stair turret. There are buttresses on the east and west sides of the tower, and a three-light window on the south side. At the summit is a plain parapet, and a pyramidal roof with a weathervane. Along the wall of the aisle are four two-light windows. The porch contains a pointed doorway under a gable with a cross finial. The north and south sides of the chancel each contain a two-light window. The east window has five lights. Along the south wall of the nave are three windows, two with three lights, the other with two lights. To the west of these is a doorway with a pointed head.^[2]

Inside the church is a three-bay arcade carried on octagonal piers. The chancel contains a piscina with a trefoil head.^[2] The font has a cover dated 1910. The stained glass dates from the 20th century, and depicts Saint Mark and Saint Peter.^[3] The two-manual organ was built in 1927 by R. G. Phillips of Preston.^[6]

The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner wrote that "one would have to search far and search long in England to find village churches to vie with" this and two other Austin and Paley churches, Torver and Finsthwaite.^[7]