St. John the Evangelist - Kidsgrove, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. - Roman Catholic Churches on Waymarking.com

St. John the Evangelist is a small late nineteenth-century brick church in Perpendicular Gothic style. It was designed by a local architect - William Larner Sugden & Son of Leek.

"Designs were in place by August 1892 for what was to be the first church founded from Goldenhill. It was built in 1892-3 from designs by the Leek architects William Sugden & Son. The church was opened by Bishop Ilsley on 8 February 1893. The cost of the church, attached presbytery and school, was £4,200, met in large part by the convert W. F. Craig, of Milton House, Alsager. Kidsgrove became an independent mission in the same year. The church is now served from Goldenhill.

The church is an attractive late nineteenth-century essay in Perpendicular Gothic style, of red brick with stone dressings and under a plain tile roof. The aisleless nave is of five bays, with a shorter and lower sanctuary. The chief architectural display is reserved for the entrance front, with a wide seven-light west window with Perpendicular tracery. Above this, there is a statue of St John under a canopy in a niche, forming part of a stone gable feature. Piers at the corners are surmounted by broad crocketed stone finials. The entrance is at the centre, through a modern, cheaply constructed wooden porch. At the sides, the bays of the nave each are lit by high-set square-headed windows with triple cusped lights, and are separated by stepped buttresses with stone offsets. There is a four-light window lighting the sanctuary on the north side, and a circular window with curvilinear tracery in the east wall of the chancel. A flat-roofed extension previously on the north side has recently been removed, to the benefit of the appearance of the church and its immediate setting.

Internally the walls are plastered and painted cream. Over the nave is a segmental-shaped ceiling while there is a plain pitched roof over the sanctuary with angel busts at the base of the principal rafters. A brick arch separates the nave and sanctuary. At the west end there is a gallery. No fittings or furnishings call for mention other than the (painted) stone reredos with four niches with angels focusing on a central niche. The original marble alter frontal survives but has been set back against the east wall." Source: (visit link)


At the front of the church there is a memorial for Kidsgrove soldiers who died during the First and Second World Wars. The memorial is in the form of a wooden calvary with a stone figure of Jesus Christ. On either side are carved figures of the Virgin Mary and St John the Baptist and at the foot of the cross is Mary Magdalene kneeling down. In 2016 the memorial secured Grade II listed status.

Headline in The Sentinel | Posted: May 12, 2016
"Delight as war memorial secures Grade II listed status"
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Saturday Vigil Masses - 6.30pm
Holy Day Masses - 2.30pm
Confession Saturday - 7.30pm to 8pm

Type of Church: Church Status of Building: Actively in use for worship Date of organization: 02/08/1893 Date of building construction: 01/01/1893 Dominant Architectural Style: Perpendicular Gothic style Associated Shrines, Art, etc.: Memorial to remember soldiers from Kidsgrove who died in the First and Second World Wars. Archdiocese: Birmingham Diocese: Birmingham Address/Location: The Avenue Kidsgrove Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire England ST7 1AE Relvant Web Site: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   01/06/2019 dtrebilc visited it