Historic church set to undergo repairs

A historic Blackburn church – home to the town’s Confessional Festival of music – is to undergo repairs.

Proposals for the work at the Grade II heritage-listed Holy Trinity in Mount Pleasant have been submitted to town hall planners.

They propose repair of masonry parapets and copings to Chancel East gable, North Transept, South Transept and associated leadwork and roofing repairs.

The Lister Building Consent application to Blackburn with Darwen Council has been submitted by the Churches Conservation Trust which owns the redundant building where Samaritan’s founder the Rev Chad Vara was once the vicar.

A supporting statement says: “The church is an imposing Victorian structure built 1837-49, with a church school attached to the east gable.

“The proposed works are essentially minor in nature and are considered to have negligible impact on the heritage significance of the listed building and its setting.

“Planned in 1846 to serve the growing population of the area, Holy Trinity church was built by subscription and a grant from the Church Building Society.

“Those contributing are remembered in 80 painted angels holding commemorative shields on the panelled timber ceiling.

“Construction of Holy Trinity church was started in 1837, opening for worship in July of 1846.

“The tower was not finished until 1855 with the planned spire never being built.

“The final school featuring a unique roof-top playground due to restricted space. The school was closed in 1972.

“Due to falling number of worshippers the church was declared redundant in 1981. It passed into the care of the Churches Conservation Trust in 1984.

“The church is considered a very good example of the early Gothic Revival style work of the prolific Lancaster architect Edmund Sharpe.

“The exterior of the church is largely unaltered, since construction

“The church has high communal and historic value, recalling the rapid expansion of the town in the Victorian period largely due to the rapid development of the textile industry in the area.

“The copings to both sides of the gable have slipped down their slopes.

“This has transmitted down into the underlying masonry, displacing the string course and quoin below at the south east corner of the Transept.

“It is proposed to re-build the corner locally and re-bed the copings.

“Full repointing of the parapet masonry will prevent water ingress into the masonry joints.

“The proposed parapet repairs are considered both urgent and essential to repair the structural integrity of the building to avoid further masonry displacement and ultimately the potential for catastrophic collapse of parts of the parapets.

“The associated works to the leadwork flashings and masonry repointing will restore the weather-resistance of the building envelope.”