St Mark's Church, Blackburn

St Mark's is one of the oldest churches in the Blackburn diocese, and was founded by the Feilden family, the largest landowners in Blackburn at the time. Joseph Feilden gave the land for the church, contributed £200 towards its building and gave £50 for the stained glass windows. The church was built in 1836–38 to a Romanesque design by the Lancaster architect Edmund Sharpe. It was Sharpe's first commission, and one of his early churches in Romanesque style. In gaining the commission, he was helped by his older cousin Revd J. W. Whitaker, vicar of Blackburn, who was related by marriage to the Feilden family. The total cost of the church was £1,700 (equivalent to £}} in ). In addition to the…

The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner considered that this was "One of the most interesting churches in Blackburn". It is built in stone. The exterior is divided into a grid pattern by lesenes (pilasters without a base or capital) and string courses. The west front is gabled and has a gabled porch. Along the sides of the church are two tiers of windows, the upper ones being smaller and narrower than the lower ones. The plan of the church is cruciform. It consists of a wide nave without aisles that suddenly contracts into a narrow chancel with a polygonal apse. The north transept is five-sided, while the south transept is square. The tower rises from the junction of the nave and the…