Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/343

 assigned by order of Council to St. John's, which in that manner became, under Lord Blanford's Act, the parish church of Blackpool. The district thus cut off from the wide parochial area of Bispham, and constituted a distinct parish for all ecclesiastical purposes, was included between the Spen Dyke to the south and the central line of Talbot road to the north. The cost of the, sacred edifice, which consisted, externally, of a plain brick structure, having a low embattled tower with pinnacles at the angles, amounted to £1,072, the whole of which was defrayed by voluntary subscriptons, the following individuals being the principal contributors:—

Mrs. Dickson      £100

Mr. Robert Banks   100

" H. Banks        100

" John Hornby     100

A Friend           100

Mr. John Forshaw   100

" Robert Hesketh   50

" Fielding         50

" Jonathan Peel    50 1Os.

" Bonny            50

The interior of the church, plain and neat, was lighted by small lamps for evening service during the winter, and contained a font which had once belonged to the old Roman Catholic chapel of Singleton; and, a few years later, an organ built by Wren, of Manchester. In 1832 this building was enlarged by drawing out the east end, into which a plain window was inserted. The still increasing popularity of the watering place demanded another enlargement, which took place in 1847; but it was not until 1851 that the present chancel, containing a handsome stained glass memorial window to H. Banks, esq., who died in 1847, was added. The window embraces representations of Christ, the four evangelists, and the infant Jesus, with Joseph and his mother, etc., below which is the following inscription, surmounted by a coat of arms and motto:—"In memoriam Henrii Banks de Blackpool patris, et unius ex hujus Ædis patronis, tres sui liberi hanc fenestram fieri fecerunt." In 1862 it was thought desirable that further improvements should be made, and an open domed roof of pitch-pine was substituted for the old ceiling; the floors of the pews, previously covered with asphalt, were boarded; new windows of ground glass, and a fresh pulpit and reading desk were added to the church; whilst a substantial iron railing was erected round the yard in place of the cobble wall, which had stood since the opening of the edifice, and in the same year the burial space