[smferino]

The redundant St John's church is now being converted into a restaurant by developer Church Converts. The historic interior has been opened up, temporary structures removed, and light now floods into the building .
It has been boarded up for over 20 years, and I have longed to get inside so a HUGE thankyou to Simon Linford of The Linford Group, for arranging the open day (as part of the national heritage open days) and for allowing me exclusive (as in no open to the general public) access to the bell tower.
The parish church of Hanley, St. John's stands near to the Potteries Shopping Centre. A Grade II listed building, it is probably on of the world's earliest surviving buildings to be constructed with cast iron. It was closed in 1985 when the tower was declared unsafe and the bodies were exhumed from the graveyard to make way for the ring road, although several headstones remain , albeit in a paving capacity.
The church was built in 1788-90 but the projecting chacel with it's 3 huge painted glass windows was added in 1872.

Some history:
"Hanley Church, St John, stands in a spacious cemetery, and is a large brick edifice, with a tower 100 feet high, containing an excellent peal of eight bells (2 more were added later) The interior is neatly pewee, and will seat 1200 hearers. It was erected by subscription at the cost of about £5000, in 1788, on the site of a small chapel built in 1764 on land given by a Mr. Adams, at the cost of £1000, of which, £500 was given by John Bourne, Esq., who died in 17643.
The church is vested in the patronage of about 27 trustees, and the pews are all private property; but Mr. Bourne who can be regarded as the founder, endowed the perpetual curacy with 60 acres of land at Halmer End, in Audley parish, and it has since been augmented by subscription, and Queen's Anne's Bounty, so that it is now valued at £220 per annum, exclusive of pew rents.
The late Rev Robert Ellis Aitkins held the benefice from 1802 till 1849. The rev. G.F. Whidborne, M.A., is the present incumbent, and has a neat residence; and the Rev. T. R. Musselwhite, B.A., is the curate.
The church yard was enclosed by new fencing in 1850.
(From History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851)
In 1830:

And 2008 before work commenced:



"...A polygonal chancel was added in 1872; the stone pinnacles which originally embelished the tower have since been removed.
Recommended for closure in the 1970s, St.John's was instead given a remarkable £26,000 interior facelift. Unchanging as a centre of worship, the building was adapted to offer unique facilities for education and the arts.....
Subsidence is the latest threat to the church's fabric, with ominous cracks on the wall of the nave.... A prestigious new redevelopment scheme, The Potteries Shopping Centre, is now nearing completion...."
[From: "Six of the Best" by Richard Weir. 1988]

Enough history, on with the pics:

Starting outside of this pretty "plain" looking church







And the "recycled" paving





Before heading inside









And upstairs



















(CONT.)

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(CONT.)

To the tower!!!!!!









And finally a bit of fifties chav graf!!



Hope it wasn't too long a report, it's a place I grew up knowing about, but never visited until now.