Overview
St Silas' Church is in Preston New Road, Blackburn, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Blackburn with Darwen, the archdeaconry of Blackburn, and the diocese of Blackburn. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.
History
St Silas' was designed in 1878 by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin, but building did not start until 1894. The first phase was completed by 1898, this did not include the tower. The church cost £10,000 (equivalent to £ in ), and provided seating for 609 people. The tower, measuring in height, was not added until 1913–14. At the same time a porch was built, but the planned spire was never added; this phase cost over £6,000. Before the church was built, services had been held from 1846 in a nearby Sunday school, and then in a school built in 1884–85.
Exterior
The church is constructed in sandstone with freestone dressings. The external walls are in yellow sandstone; the internal walls in red sandstone. The roofs are slated. Its plan consists of a nave with north and south aisles, a southwest porch, a north transept containing the organ chamber, a south transept comprising a chapel, a chancel with a north vestry, another vestry in the angle between the south transept and aisle, and a west tower. The architectural style is Gothic Revival, described in the National Heritage List as Perpendicular, and by the authors of the Buildings of England series as Decorated. The tower is in three stages, with angle buttresses, and a polygonal stair turret at the southwest corner that rises to a level higher than the tower. On the summit of the tower are pierced embattled parapets and pinnacles.
The tower has a west doorway, above which is a five-light window. In its middle stage are pairs of ogee-headed windows, clock faces, and a frieze of shields. The top stage contains louvred bell openings, one on the south side, and two in pairs on each of the other sides. Along the walls of the aisles are large four-light windows. The porch is tall with an embattled parapet, canted angles, and angle buttresses. Above its moulded entrance arch is a statue of Saint Silas in a niche surmounted by a pinnacle. The transepts contain pairs of square-headed two-light windows, and have embattled parapets. The chancel has a south square-headed two-light window, a seven-light east window, a parapet of blind quatrefoils, and a southeast turret with a spirelet.
Interior
The appearance of the interior of the church is "one of spaciousness, nobility and grandeur imparted by the handling of the proportions". It is "richly furnished in a high-church fashion". There is a ring of eight bells, all of which were cast in 1888 by John Taylor and Company of Loughborough.
See also
*Grade II* listed buildings in Lancashire *Listed buildings in Blackburn *List of ecclesiastical works by Paley and Austin *List of ecclesiastical works by Austin and Paley (1895–1914)