St Mark's Church, Blackburn

St Mark’s Church stands in Buncer Lane, Witton, on the northern edge of Blackburn. It is a redundant Anglican church, built in the 1830s and later combined with two nearby parishes. The building is Grade II* listed, recognised for its architectural importance. The Feilden family, major landowners in Blackburn, provided land and funds for its construction. Joseph Feilden gave £200 and £50 for stained glass, while grants from church societies helped cover costs. The church seated 669 people when new and was designed by Edmund Sharpe in Romanesque style. The church’s history includes a south transept added in 1870 as a Feilden family mausoleum. Later, in the 1880s, the north transept and vestry were added by Sharpe’s successors, Paley and Austin. Nikolaus Pevsner called it one of Blackburn’s most interesting churches. Its exterior features a grid of stone pilasters and two tiers of windows along the sides. The plan is cruciform, with a wide nave narrowing to a polygonal chancel and apse. Inside, a west gallery with a late 20th-century screen sits above cast-iron columns. The chancel screen dates from about 1920 and is in Perpendicular style. The east window’s stained glass, designed by Thomas Willement, was installed in 1838. The octagonal tower rises from the nave’s east end, topped by a spire and small gables on each face. A narrow passage beneath the tower limits the view from nave to chancel, adding to the building’s curious layout.