The Parish Church of St John the Evangelist – Levens

(Licensed 1828 – Consecrated 1836)

The story of our church is inextricably linked to that of the family of Levens Hall, in the

ancient Parish of Heversham which, in the 19th century, incorporated a number of local

hamlets and villages.

Levens Hall St Peter’s church Heversham

The oldest parts of the church

date from the 12th century

Our story really begins when The Hon. Mary Howard became heiress of Levens Hall. She was

a considerable benefactor in the local area; in 1810 she built a school for girls at Beathwaite

Green, one of the hamlets of the parish, just about a mile north-west of Levens Hall. A

National School for boys was established there sometime between 1819-1823, but in 1824

Mary Howard gifted a new building for this school too.

Sometime after this, it is said that she had a disagreement with the then Vicar of Heversham,

and together with her husband Col. Fulk Greville Howard (he took the name Howard when they

were married) decided to endow and build a chapel of ease at Beathwaite Green to serve that

community and the two other local hamlets of Cotes and Causeway End.

The chapel was licensed and opened for divine worship on Advent Sunday 1828 and

consecrated by John Bird, Bishop of Chester, on October 2nd 1836 with the dedication ‘St

John the Evangelist, in Levens’ – as was reported in the Westmorland Gazette the week after

the event. So it is clear that right from the beginning the existence of the chapel of ease

influenced the use of ‘Levens’ as a name to represent the three communities it served –

Beathwaite Green, Causeway End and Cotes.

The south elevation of the chapel in its early days would have looked quite similar to the way

it looks today – though both the porch (1873) and the churchyard (1913) were later

additions.

The Parish of Heversham was transferred from the Diocese of Chester into the Diocese of

Carlisle in 1856.

The architect is now known to have been William Coulthart of Lancaster rather than George

Webster of Kendal as was previously believed. Some designs for internal fixtures and fittings

were drawn up by Edward Blore of London.

* * *

As patron, Mary’s endowment provided for a vicar’s stipend and residence. In 1873 she also

provided for the addition of a vestry (extended again in 1972 to incorporate a toilet) and the

South Porch.

Mary Howard and her husband were noted for their generosity in a number of different

contexts as is evidenced in memorial plaques opposite one another on the chancel walls.

The first two incumbents served for 84 years between them – The Rev. William Stephens

(1828-1864) and The Rev. Arthur Smith (1864-1912)

They were followed for three short years by the colourful Rev. Sidney Swann (1912-14) who,

in 1920, married Lady Theodosia Bagot of Levens Hall - widow of Captain Josceline Bagot

(d.1913). It was during Swann’s short incumbency that the oak choir stalls and clergy desks

were gifted by Josceline, Richard and Alice Bagot in memory of their parents. The Bagot coat

of arms is carved on the vicar’s stall and bears the motto Antiquum Obtinens (Holding fast to

tradition).

The Swann years were a time of considerable change to the interior of St John’s. He had an

organ chamber built and moved the organ (Wilkinson of Kendal - 1883) from the west end to its

present position in the north wall. “The addition of a water-engine for blowing the organ was

a great success, apart from Mondays, which, being Washing Day, lowered the water

pressure.” (From a contemporary account)

Wilkinson Organ (1883) Scissor-braced roof timbers

The pulpit was also moved and lowered, additional timbers were added to the roof, the pews

were “set at a more comfortable angle” and “coloured a deep green instead of the awful

brown staining. I put cushions in the seats.” (Swann’s autobiography), the Lych Gate was

built and unused bells brought from Milnthorpe. Influenced by his time as a missionary in

Japan, he had a Japanese style structure made within which to hang the bells, which were

rung with a wooden mallet “that greatly improved their tone”. (The structure and its bells

currently lie dismantled on the north side of the church after somebody backed into it and destabilised

it to such a degree that it was unsafe. A new structure is under construction in the same style)

One of the most significant changes during Swann’s incumbancy is recorded in his

autobiography. Levens church had no burial ground because it was built on a limestone scar

with an insufficient depth of soil. “All funerals went to Heversham, the parish church, Levens

being only a curacy in charge. I persuaded the Levens farmers to give me a boon carting day,

as they called it: they carried 200 cartloads of sand up from the plains and made a soil which

we sowed with grass seed, and soon the churchyard was green and ready for burials.

I had by then managed to get Levens made into a vicarage in its own right (The graveyard was

consecrated 2013 and Levens may not have been a separate parish until then) and separate from

Heversham, but the difficulty was to get the first burial. A bribe of a sovereign, however got a

corpse, and once there was a gravestone there, others soon came along, for it was no longer

thought to be lonely”.

Reflecting on all his improvements, Swann also records: “I planted flowering shrubs in the

churchyard, and generally so transformed the church that one would hardly have known it.

Inwardly it was beautiful, outwardly it had its own God’s Acre as a symbol of the peaceful

passage of souls to a wider life.”

This burial area was extended in 1949, 1963 and again in 1980

In 1921-22, a year or so after her marriage to Sidney Swann, during the incumbancy of Rev.

William Bannerman (1921-47) a stained glass east window by A.K. Nicholson was given by

Theodosia Bagot* in memory of her husband Captain Josceline Bagot who died in 1913 and

of their son Alan who died in 1920. It replaced a stained glass window with a geometric

design and depicts Christ on the cross in the centre, with Mary in the left hand panel and St

John in the right. There are smaller pictures from the life of Christ along the bottom.

The war memorial adjacent to the Sanctuary wall on the south side of the church was erected

at the same time and paid for jointly by the British Legion and the church.

The oak reredos, which replaced curtains behind the altar, dates from 1922/23 and the

current altar from 1923. The brass cross which is used during services was given in 1923 in

memory of James Gandy Gandy of Heaves, who died in 1917. The wooden cross which is in

position at all other times was made and given in 2007 by the then churchwarden Barrie

King.*

While the church had been heated since 1868 by a solid fuel boiler situated in a tunnel under

the west door, the lighting had still been by oil lamps until 1935 when electric lighting was

installed and initially it was felt to be “too bright”!

In 1956 the oak panelling in the sanctuary was given in memory of George, James and

William Rothwell of Box Tree.

In 1964 the old parsonage built by Mary Howard was pulled down, some of the garden sold

off for development (Vicarage Road) and a modern vicarage built on the site.

In 2015 the church roof was replaced and the south wall repointed and in 2016 a new gas-

fired central heating system was installed.

In 2017 St. John’s received an Eco Church Gold Award in recognition of the high priority given

by the congregation to caring for God’s creation in both practical and spiritual aspects of

church life and also for their outreach into the wider community to encourage more

sustainable life-style choices.

Other Information

The font was given in 1828 by Thomas Richmond Gale-Braddyll (1776-1862) of

Conishead Priory, Ulverston. The plinth on which it now stands was a later addition.

The wooden lid was given in memory of Rev. Robert Tilbury who served as vicar here

from 1964-1970.

The altar rail is the original one dating from 1828

There is a bell in the tower which is inscribed, ‘Joseph Winder Made Mee 1846’. This is probably a bell brought by Mary Howard from a church on her estates in Castle Rising

and recast by the Kendal firm.

Other memorials are to General The Hon. Arthur Upton (1807-1883), nephew of Mary

Howard’s husband Fulk Greville Upton (Howard), who inherited Levens Hall in 1877 on

Mary’s death - and to James Gandy Gandy of Heaves (1850-1917)

On the north wall, in a heavy gilt frame, there is a copy of a section from Gentil de

Fabriano’s ‘Adoration of the Magi’ (1423). We believe that it came to St John’s during

the incumbency of Rev. Sandy Lofthouse

In St. John’s The original full picture from 1423

The stained glass window on the north side of the sanctuary is in memory of a former

Vicar, Revd. W. E. Bannerman (1921 - 46) and the one opposite “In thankful

remembrance of L.B.C. (L B Culshaw of Cherry Cottage, Cotes) 1952”. Both pieces are

the work of N and S Abbot and Co. Lancaster.

In the porch are two stone angels in memory of Emily McLeod (1984-1986) – given by

her parents. They are the work of Josephina de Vasconcellos.

The gates to the car park were donated by PV Dobson*

The book cupboard by the South door was given ‘In loving memory of William Eccles

OBE – 1917-1989*

The modern oak lectern was made and given in 1999 by Dermot Barton* – onetime

choirmaster at St John’s. He later extended the microphone holder to accommodate

the new, larger Bible from which the lessons are read. He also made – amongst other

things - the stools in the sanctuary, the step used by the font at baptisms and the

flower bracket under the indoor war memorial on the West Arch.

The leaflet rack was given ‘ In memoriam: William and Ada Garner’

* Indicates that members of the family still worship in this church

Architecture

St John’s is Grade II listed. The designation document says of our church:

“The early 19th century can provide a link – or in some cases a transition – between

restrained classical Georgian architecture and a precursor to the fully blown Gothic revival. St

John’s is a good example of church building of this period and also perhaps reflects the

political context of the Established Church in the early 19th century”.

The West Gallery is a common feature of churches built before the gothic revival and here

singers and musicians would lead the service as Thomas Hardy depicts in his novels.

Changes in the parish system locally

Between 1978-2004 St John’s Levens was linked with two other parishes – Helsington,

Levens and Underbarrow – the joint parish name ‘Helevund’ was coined by Rev. Canon Sandy

Lofthouse (1978-1995); it was during his incumbency that the ‘kitchen’ was built in the

recess in the north-west corner and that the ramp was built giving disabled and pram access

to church. Rev. Alex Stockley served here from 1995-2004. Between 2004 and 2006 a new

group of parishes was formed under Rev. Canon John Hancock incorporating Heversham,

Milnthorpe, Arnside and Levens. In 2006 Rev. Ruth Crossley moved to Levens as priest in

charge of just this parish with a half time role in Continuing Ministerial Education for the

Diocese. In 2007 the Kent Estuary Group of Anglican churches was formally established

incorporating Arnside, Beetham, Milnthorpe, Heversham and Levens. These churches decided

to work together to employ a youth worker and in time the steering group developed into a

fully ecumenical body involving all the denominations represented in the area (Anglican,

Methodist and Roman Catholic). The Kent Estuary area is now the focus of our developing

Mission Community.

And finally, to bring us completely up to date, Rev. Canon Ruth Crossley moved to St. Mary’s

Dalton at the end of January 2017. We shall now become part of the united benefice of

Heversham, Levens and Milnthorpe - but are currently in an interregnum.

Opening Hours

The church is open 24 hours a day – 7 days a week for quiet prayer and reflection, and is

widely used for that purpose by local residents and visitors alike. We hope you enjoy the

peace and beauty of this place which holds in its stones the prayers of people over nearly 200

years.

A warm welcome awaits you!

* * *

(Sources of information acknowledged with sincere thanks: Levens Local history

Group / ‘St John’s Church Levens 1828-2004’ by John Hodgkinson /

www.historicengland.org.uk (Listing reference 1407318) / Hal Bagot.

August 2017