NPRN416252
Map ReferenceSJ21SE
Grid ReferenceSJ2576011858
Unitary (Local) AuthorityPowys
Old CountyMontgomeryshire
CommunityWelshpool
Type Of SiteCHURCH
Period19th Century
Description1. St John's Church at Pool Quay was built under the patronage of the third Earl of Powys; with the building stone being donated by Sir Baldwin Leighton from his quarry at Sweeney Mountain, near Oswestry. The church, which was designed in the Early English style by the architect Mr Poultney Smith of Shrewsbury, was designed to seat three hundred people. Consecrated on 30th April 1862, the church was extensively restored in 1956. The bell tower was restored and remodelled in 1992; and in 2003/4 the whole church was extensively altered. The church now acts as a centre for the community.
L. Moore, RCAHMW, 13th March 2012.
2.The church of St John the Evangelist is located on the west side of the A483 at Pool Quay on the Montgomeryshire Canal. It was built in 1860-2 to designs of architect S.Pountney Smith of Shrewsbury and was funded by the third Earl Of Powis to cater for the needs of the largely industrial population of Pool Quay.
The church is constructed of coursed and squared red Sweeney Mountain sandstone, with slate roofs. Built in the Early English style, and oddly proportioned throughout, it consists of nave and chancel without division with lean-to north aisle under a continuous roof; transeptal gables to chancel; timbered south-west porch on a high stone base; timbered west bellcote (lowered in 1992) on a raking slated base and capped by an octagonal spirelet; lower stair turret in north-west angle of nave and aisle, with timbered upper stage and angled roof; apsidal north-east vestry; and south organ chamber. Windows are mostly of lancet form but with plate-traceried west window and wheel window in upper east gable.
The interior is vaulted in wood, the roof carried on wall shafts sprung from corbels. Th north arcade is of five bays, including a blind western bay, on slim octagonal piers. The chancel is floored with encaustic tiles. Fittings include combined lectern and pulpit; a gilded and painted metal panel as reredos (installed in 1891) and similar Commandment boards in north aisle; and a simple basin font on a stepped octagonal base with nail-head moulding at the foot of the basin, and ornate wrought-iron hood. Stained glass includes works by Winfield of Birmingham (1891) and Camm of Smwthwick (1899).
The west end of the church was sub-divided in 2004 to form a church hall and rooms.
Sources: Extracts from Cadw Listing description; R.Scourfield & R.Haslam, Buildings of Wales: Powys (2013), p.241-2.
RCAHMW, 19 August 2015