The Abandoned Boiler House at Holy Trinity Church Northwitch
I've been Site Manager at the church for about 7 months now and this was my 1st explore of a part of the building I have never been into.
The Church was built in 1845, as a church for the workers on the Weaver Navigation. The land for the church, was purchased for £79 (£8,900 in 2016 from Lord Tollemache of Peckforton. The foundation stone for the church was laid on 1 July 1841 by Lord Tollemache, and the church was consecrated exactly one year later. The sandstone for building the church was given by J. L. Wright, a quarry owner from Runcorn and Weston Point. The church can seat about 430 people.
The Boiler House once had 2 large gas furnaces, which once heated the Church, the Church Hall and the former Vicarage. The Vicarage was sold to Cheshire West and Cheshire Council, several years ago (and they now have their own heating system in their cellar) The then District Heating System, (which heated the three buildings) was decommissioned about 10 years ago and the furnaces removed. There is still some signs of where the heating system used to be and a few pipes remain down there. The metal flue that ran up the side of the building has also since been removed and only the holes (where the flue was attached to the wall) remain.
Due to the rate of decay and the dangerous nature of the steps and walls down there, we are looking at possibly having the pipes capped, removed and the old Boiler House filled in. I am sorry there is only a couple of pics, it is a very small space down there and as it's so unsafe; I didn't want to risk injuring myself. However, you can see the amount of decay down there and the state of the stonework.
Above: The crumbling stone steps that lead to the garden area. (This is the only way in and out and the Boiler House is accessed, via a "Storm Cellar" type entrance. You can also see the old water pipes that fed the furnaces, at the bottom right corner of the photo.
The walls are in a bad state of repair and you can see from the photo, that the rust from the metal supports are causing the stone to rust. The old Furnaces used to stand in this space, which is to the left of the steps.