St Andrew's Church, Ashton-on-Ribble

53°46′08″N 2°44′10″W / 53.7689°N 2.7360°W / 53.7689; -2.7360OS grid referenceSD 516 305LocationBlackpool Road,
Ashton-on-Ribble,
Preston, LancashireCountryEnglandDenominationAnglicanChurchmanshipConservative EvangelicalWebsitewww.standrewsashton.org.ukHistoryStatusParish churchDedicationSaint AndrewArchitectureFunctional statusActiveHeritage designationGrade IIDesignated27 September 1979Architect(s)Ewan Christian (expansion)Architectural typeChurchStyleRomanesque Revival, Gothic RevivalGroundbreaking1835
construction start: 1836Completed1902SpecificationsMaterialsSandstone, slate roofsAdministrationProvinceYorkDioceseBlackburnArchdeaconryLancasterDeaneryPrestonParishSt Andrew, Ashton-on-RibbleClergyMinister(s)Revd James D. G. Nash Revd Jonny W. S. LeeLaityReader(s)Dr. Brian HitchenChurchwarden(s)Mr Howard Robinson,
Mr Dave UnderhillParish administratorMrs Michelle Bateman

St Andrew's Church is in Blackpool Road, Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Preston, the archdeaconry of Lancaster, and the diocese of Blackburn. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.^[1]

The foundation stone of the church was laid on 20 August 1835, and the church was built in the 1836 consecrated on 7 October 1836 by the Rt Revd John Bird Sumner, bishop of Chester. At this time the church seated about 300 people.^[2] In 1873–74 the architect Ewan Christian added a north aisle and converted the nave windows into Early English style. A vestry was added in 1902.^[3]

St Andrew's Church is within the Conservative Evangelical tradition of the Church of England.

The church is constructed in sandstone with slate roofs. Its plan consists of a four-bay nave, a wide north aisle, a north porch, a chancel with an organ chamber to the north, a vestry to the east, and a small west tower. The tower is in Romanesque style, and the rest of the church is in Early English style. The tower is in three stages, with buttresses, and a short broach spire. In the bottom stage are two round-headed lancet windows, with a similar but larger window in the middle stage. The bell openings are louvred, and consist of triple round-headed lancets. Along the sides of the nave and the aisle are three two-light windows, and a three-light window in the eastern bay.^[1]

Inside the church, the arcade is carried on cylindrical piers of polished pink granite. In the chancel is a sedilia. On the wall of the church are monuments to members of the Pedder family.^[1] The stained glass in the east window is by Hardman.^[3] The three-manual organ was built in 1902 by Henry Willis & Sons. It was overhauled in 1969 by J. W. Walker, and again in 2001 by Wood of Huddersfield.^[4]

The churchyard contains the war graves of a Royal Air Force officer of World War I, and an Army Dental Corps officer and Royal Army Medical Corps sergeant of World War II.^[5]

• Douglas B Cochrane, A History of the Parish of St Andrew's Ashton-on-Ribble, ASAA

• Listed buildings in Preston, Lancashire