St John and St Mary Magdalene Church, Goldthorpe

The Church of St John the Evangelist and St Mary Magdalene, in Goldthorpe, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England was built in 1916. It is an early example of a ferro-concrete building and is now a Grade II listed building. Commissioned by Charles Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax, a former owner of Hickleton Hall, it was designed by Alfred Young Nutt in 1914. Nutt had been recently forcibly retired as Surveyor to the Dean and Canons of St George's Chapel, Windsor. Its strange Italian style is unique in this part of South Yorkshire and is distinctly odd for a Dearne Valley mining village. It was the first large church in England to be built almost entirely in reinforced concrete, including all…

The Church consists of a South West Tower, Porch, West Gallery, Nave, North and South Aisles and a Chancel with Apse. There is a Lady Chapel on the south side of the chancel, with vestry on the North side. Viscount Halifax was a prominent Anglo-Catholic layman and his taste in church adornment is reflected in the Italianate detailing, classical baldacchino altar canopy and simple Roman Catholic Basilica church plan with campanile. The baldacchino canopy is supported by four black pillars with gilded capitals, under which there is a large Crucifix in black with burnished halo - a copy of a work by Donatello. The tower is a Venetian-styled campanile, above which there is a four faced clock,…