St Wilfrid's Church, Grappenhall

Grappenhall, St Wilfrid's Church
St Wilfrid's Church Grappenhall,from the southeast
Grappenhall, St Wilfrid's Church Location in Cheshire
Coordinates: 53°22′20″N 2°32′36″W / 53.3723°N 2.5434°W / 53.3723; -2.5434
OS grid reference	SJ 638,863
Location	Grappenhall, Warrington, Cheshire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Wilfrid's Church, Grappenhall
History
Dedication	St Wilfrid
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	8 January 1970
Architect(s)	Paley and Austin (restoration)
Architectural type	Church
Style	Norman, Gothic, Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	12th century
Completed	1874
Specifications
Spire height	About 76 feet (23 m)
Materials	Red sandstone, slate roof
Administration
Parish	Grappenhall
Deanery	Great Budworth
Archdeaconry	Chester
Diocese	Chester
Province	York
Clergy
Rector	Rev'd Jane Proudfoot
Assistant priest(s)	Rev Margaret Jones

St Wilfrid's Church is in Church Lane, Grappenhall, a village in Warrington, Cheshire, England. It is designated by Historic England as a Grade I listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Great Budworth.

The church is Norman in origin, built probably in the earlier part of the 12th century and completed about 1120. This was a small and simple church, consisting of a nave, chancel and, possibly, an apse. The foundations of this church were discovered during the 1873–74 restoration.

A chantry chapel was added by the Boydell family in 1334 in a position where the south aisle now stands. From 1529 the church was largely rebuilt in local sandstone. The old church was demolished and a new nave, chancel, north aisle and a west tower were built. In 1539 the south aisle was added, which incorporated the Boydell chapel. The south porch was added in 1641 and at this time the west wall was strengthened. In 1833 the roof of the nave was raised to form a clerestory and in the 1850s the south aisle was further extended, and a vestry was built. There was a more substantial restoration in 1873–74 by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin, which included the provision of new floors and roofs, at a cost of about £4,000.

The church is built in red sandstone with a slate roof. Its plan consists of a west tower, a continuous nave and chancel of seven bays with a clerestory, north and south aisles, a chapel at the east end of the south aisle, a vestry and a south porch. The tower is in three stages, with a Tudor west door, and a four-light west window. It has diagonal west buttresses and square east buttresses. In the middle stage are small windows, above which are clock faces and bell openings. On the summit is a crenellated parapet. The tower is about 76 feet (23 m) high. The chancel east window is in Perpendicular style. The east window in the north aisle (formerly in the chancel) has five lights. The clerestory windows are paired and round-arched. Included in the internal fabric of the wall of the south aisle is a remnant of a Norman corbel table decorated with crudely carved human heads.