IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Hancock Road, CONGLETON, CW12 2AN

Situated on the west side of the church, the churchyard is very tidy and well looked after.

Located in the churchyard, this memorial records the men of Buglawton who gave their lives fighting in World War I and World War II.

Having walked through a very well kept churchyard (Image), it was very strange to come across this untouched corner. Perhaps it is being kept as a wildlife section?

Looking at the west elevation of the church from Image St John’s, or St John the Evangelist’s, Church was the first of several new churches to be built in the borough of Congleton, originally as a ‘district church’ within the Parish of Astbury. The church was built on land gifted by a Mr Thomas Chapman of the Lowe after being petitioned by the first Vicar of Buglawton, the Reverend Edward Wilson. It was built in the pseudo-Norman style and cost £2,286; the money was raised by voluntary public subscription and a grant from the Diocesan Church Building Society. St John’s was consecrated on the 13th October 1840, the procession consisting of the Bishop and the Town Corporation was preceded by a group of Chartists and Socialists carrying a black flag and the Death’s Head and crossed bones! Historical information from The History of Congleton by W. B. Stephens, Congleton History Society: page 219 ( http://tinyurl.com/43cevt6 ).

One of three clocks on the tower, all of which seemed to have stopped at different times. See also Image and Image

The weather vane is on the steeple on St John's Church. For centuries weathervanes, or weathercocks, have kept people in touch with the elements, signalling those shifts in the wind, which bring changes in the weather. Nowadays they are typically used as an architectural ornament at the highest point of a building. Although the cockerel is the traditional design, ships, arrows, pheasants, people and horses to name but a few are also common. Weathervanes are designed in such a way that the weight is evenly distributed on each side of the surface, but the surface area is unequally divided, so that the pointer can move freely on its axis. The side with the larger surface area is blown away from the wind direction, so that the smaller side, with the pointer, turns to face the wind direction. Most vanes have pointers below that are aligned with the compass points, north, east, south and west. Because of a papal edict in the 9th century there were a great number of weathercocks to be found on churches, the edict ordered that every Church in Christendom had to be mounted with a cockerel to symbolise Peter’s betrayal of Christ (Luke 22:34- "I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me"). Although the edict only required the cockerel to be a symbol it soon became a weathervane and by the 13th century both terms, weathercock and weathervane, were being used interchangeably. Because Christian churches are always laid out east to west early weathercocks did not need to have compass directions attached to them, although it could be a bit tricky with this church being laid NNE to SSW.

A closer view of the clock that is visible in Image; it is one of three clocks, all of which have stopped at different times. See also Image

The bright blue door is complemented by the pots of summer bedding plants to provide a welcome to the church, it is also visible in Image

Showing the main entrance below the tower and steeple, the church is laid out on a north-north-east/south-south-west configuration. One of three clock faces, all of which are stopped at different times, is also visible. See also Image, Image and Image St John’s, or St John the Evangelist’s, Church was the first of several new churches to be built in the borough of Congleton, originally as a ‘district church’ within the Parish of Astbury. The church was built on land gifted by a Mr Thomas Chapman of the Lowe after being petitioned by the first Vicar of Buglawton, the Reverend Edward Wilson. It was built in the pseudo-Norman style and cost £2,286; the money was raised by voluntary public subscription and a grant from the Diocesan Church Building Society. St John’s was consecrated on the 13th October 1840, the procession consisting of the Bishop and the Town Corporation was preceded by a group of Chartists and Socialists carrying a black flag and the Death’s Head and crossed bones! Historical information from The History of Congleton by W. B. Stephens, Congleton History Society: page 219 ( http://tinyurl.com/43cevt6 ).