The Exterior of the Church
As already noted, the
church is built in the Early English style of Gothic architecture. A
description of the Church in the Parish Magazine of 1863 reads as follows;
 Reproduced
by kind permission of Lancashire County Library St George's Church in
1894
"During the period in which this style prevailed,
viz.. 1200 - 1300AD, Salisbury Cathedral was commenced and finished and
is therefore entirely in this style, as also was the nave of Westminster
Abbey and parts of a dozen English cathedrals, besides a number of Abbeys
and Parish Churches. In no existing remains of the buildings of the period
in question is there found so perfect and intact an example of the style
as is shown in our St Georgexs Church, nor is it probable that there
is in England at this day, a more perfect modern example of this most
English style of architecture, more elegant, unique, and perfectly consistent
in all its parts. Boldness, lightness and simplicity are the leading
characteristics of the design. Externally, the blocks of plain masonry
of which the walls are composed , are relieved more by the buttresses
than by the few crockets, bosses, and finials, of which the ornamentation
of the exterior mainly consists .......... And yet it would be difficult
to point out one single spot , either in the interior or exterior of
the building, where an additional ornament could be placed, without departing
from the style and destroying the beauty and unity of the design".
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 Reproduced
by kind permission of Lancashire County Library St George's Church 1911
The local stone of which the Church is built is
coarse and gritty, and does not lend itself to fine, intricate carving.
Clearly, Rickman has made the most of a difficult material.As Rev E M J Cornish, incumbent, remarked in the closing paragraph
of his guide booklet The story of the Parish of St George (and on
which this guide is in part based);
The buttresses generally terminate in acutely pointed
pediments, like those in Salisbury Cathedral and Beverley Minster.
The only places where arcades are used are on the octagonal columns
under the pinnacles and on the walls around the chancel.
 During
recent repairs to the tower crenellations and pinnacles it was discovered
that the latter had dowels running down their vertical axes, to hold
the masonry sections in place. The dowels, which created difficulties
for the stonemasons involved in the repairs, consisted of an iron core
within a sleeve of copper. Over the years, ingress of moisture had
caused electrolytic action between the two metals, with the iron corroding
preferentially to the copper and thereby expanding. This expansion
had split the copper in places and led in turn to splitting of the
stone sections, thus necessitating the repairs in which the dowels
were replaced by solid rods of stainless steel. Similarly, blocks forming
the crenellation were tied to the rest of the structure with stainless
steel replacing the original iron rods. It is known that Rickman was
fond of using xmodernx materials. Presumably, at that time little was
known of the corrosive effects of two dissimilar metals in contact!
continue to serve in the same tradition.
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