Holy Ascension Church, Upton by Chester

Holy Ascension Church stands in Church Lane, Upton-by-Chester, a village on the edge of Chester in Cheshire. Built between 1853 and 1854 to designs by James Harrison, it remains an active Anglican parish church today. The building is listed at Grade II on the National Heritage List for England. In 1961 the church hosted the wedding of John Prescott, former Deputy Prime Minister, to Pauline Tilston. Transepts were added in two stages, first in 1958 and again in 1967 by A. C. Bennett with the Design Group Partnership. The church is made of red sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings and a red tile roof. Its plan includes a five-bay nave, a south porch, a two-bay chancel with north and south transepts, and a three-stage west tower on a plinth. The tower has diagonal buttresses, two-light windows, louvred bell openings and a plain parapet, topped by a spire with lucarnes. Stained glass by Kempe dates from 1871 to 1885, with the west window of 1883 and the east window of 1885. A two-manual organ by Charles Whiteley and Company stands inside. The churchyard contains war graves for three British Army soldiers from the First World War and two soldiers and an airman from the Second World War. The red sandstone and ashlar walls enclose a quiet space beside the nave and transepts. Visitors can walk around the tower and spire, noticing the buttresses and louvred openings. The stained glass throws coloured light across the nave on sunny days. The organ pipes rise behind the altar, framed by the chancel’s two bays.