St Oswald's Church, Preesall

St Oswald's Church is an Anglican church in Preesall, a town on the Fylde coastal plain in Lancashire, England. It is an active parish church in the diocese of Blackburn and the archdeaconry of Lancaster. It was built 1896–1898, designed by Hubert Austin, and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

St Oswald's, Preesall
St Oswald's Church, Preesall, from the southwest
St Oswald's, Preesall Location in the Borough of Wyre
OS grid reference	SD 35938 48334
Location	Preesall, Lancashire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Oswald, Preesall
History
Status	Parish church
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	3 October 1984
Architect(s)	Hubert Austin
Completed	1899
Specifications
Materials	Brick with sandstone dressings Slate roofs
Administration
Parish	St Oswald, Preesall
Deanery	Garstang
Archdeaconry	Lancaster
Diocese	Blackburn
Province	York
Clergy
Priest(s)	Revd Shaun Baldwin
Curate(s)	Revd Dawn Banks

History and administration

St Oswald's was designed by Hubert Austin of the Lancaster architectural firm Austin and Paley in 1896, and building of the church was completed in 1899. Austin's signed architectural plans for the building hang inside the church.[1] It was originally a chapel of ease to St James' Church at nearby Stalmine.[2] The church cost about £3,450 (equivalent to £390,000 in 2019).[3][4]

St Oswald's was designated a Grade II listed building on 3 October 1984.[5] The Grade II listing, the lowest of the three grades, is for buildings that are "nationally important and of special interest".[6] An active church in the Church of England, St Oswald's is part of the diocese of Blackburn, which is in the Province of York. It is in the archdeaconry of Lancaster, the Deanery of Garstang and the benefice of the Waterside Parishes of Hambleton, Out Rawcliffe and Preesall.[7]

Architecture

The church is constructed of red brick with sandstone dressings; the roofs are slate.[5] The church plan consists of a nave and chancel, with a south aisle, transepts and bell turret (covered in shingles and with a short spire) towards the west end.[8] There is a porch to the south. The windows are two-light, pointed headed, with quatrefoils. There is a three-light west window and a four-light east window with cusped ogees.[5]

The internal walls of the nave are of red brick, and the chancel is faced with Runcorn sandstone.[1][5] The four-bay aisle has octagonal arcade piers. Stained glass in the church includes work from the 1970s by J. Fisher and H. Harvey of Shrigley and Hunt.[8]

See also

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

References

Citations

1. Brandwood et al. 2012, p. 143.
2. Farrer, William; Brownbill, J., eds. (1912), "Townships: Preesall with Hackinsall", A History of the County of Lancaster, Victoria County History, University of London & History of Parliament Trust, 7, pp. 256–260, retrieved 10 December 2012
3. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017), "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)", MeasuringWorth, retrieved 2 February 2020
4. Brandwood et al. 2012, p. 243.
5. Historic England, "Church of St Oswald, Preesall (1361844)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 10 December 2012
6. Listed Buildings, Historic England, retrieved 9 April 2015
7. St Oswald, Preesall, Church of England, retrieved 10 December 2012
8. Hartwell & Pevsner (2009), p. 507

Sources

• Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon: English Heritage, ISBN 978-1-84802-049-8
• Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) [1969], Lancashire: North, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-12667-9