Before St George's church was built, non-conformity was represented in the village of Thornton Hough by a Wesleyan Chapel. However, at the start of the twentieth century, Mr William Hesketh Lever - later to be the first Viscount Leverhulme - commissioned Mr J Lomax Simpson to build a Norman Romanesque church as accurately as possible.
A site was selected in the centre of the village, where a blacksmith's forge and cottages had stood, and work began on a new church, the foundation stone being laid by Mrs Lever on April the eleventh, 1906. The site was lowered by some four feet so that the new church should not dominate the village.
Lomax Simpson was concerned that the building should look authentic; to that end he studied and sketched many Romanesque buildings before completing his design. He undertook a sketching tour on which he was accompanied by Mr E O Griffith, the architectural sculptor of Liverpool. The result of their work is a gem of a building, a cathedral in miniature, which benefits from being a unified design yet has a genuine feel rather than a sense of pastiche. Mr Lever commissioned the best workmanship as well as the finest design, employing Smith Brothers of Burnley to build in Helsby "Flecked" sandstone, with Hatch Brothers of Lancaster in charge of woodwork and Messrs Swindley of Chester for ironwork. The church was completed a little over a year from its foundation and opened as a Congregational Church on May the twenty-seventh, 1907.
Architecture
The principal features of Romanesque style are the rounded arch and multiple column, each of which is well represented in St George's. There is an amazing variety of designs, with very few repetitions, so that the Church could almost act as a text-book of patterns.
Norman decoration used either geometric or natural forms. On the capitols of the pillars literally hundreds of different designs can be seen. Some are mythological, some almost classical and those around the crossing showing Biblical scenes. The arches and the arcading are varied with every type of geometric pattern, some even showing relief carving where the mason has managed to make some of the design free-standing.
Woodwork
The church's woodwork is similarly rich: the altar rails have sixty-eight different shaft patterns; the entrance screen has carved shafts and a series of elaborate modillions on either side; pew ends are carved in cable work in the body of the church, and interlaced blind arcading in the chancel; the organ case is surmounted with an array of gargoyle-like figures; the doors have scrolled strap hinges.
Architecture
The principal features of Romanesque style are the rounded arch and multiple column, each of which is well represented in St George's. There is an amazing variety of designs, with very few repetitions, so that the Church could almost act as a text-book of patterns.
Norman decoration used either geometric or natural forms. On the capitols of the pillars literally hundreds of different designs can be seen. Some are mythological, some almost classical and those around the crossing showing Biblical scenes. The arches and the arcading are varied with every type of geometric pattern, some even showing relief carving where the mason has managed to make some of the design free-standing.