St. Francis' Church first appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey maps of 1894-1899 (1). The church was built around 1867 just prior to the establishment of the nearby colliery site (2). On modern aerial photographs (3) the church seems to occupy the same footprint as marked on the OS maps, with streetview images (4) showing that the apsidal eastern end of the church is constructed of red brick that looks much more modern than the fabric of the rest of the church. There is a gabled porch on the western end of the south facing wall of the church with two small lancet windows and a cross built into the wall line with white bricks. Four narrow pointed-arch windows are found along the southern wall of the church, an additional two rounded-arch windows on the southern wall of the eastern chancel. The church has a steep pitched tile roof, lower over the eastern section with a stone cross finial at the point where the roof line changes in height. The western gable has three tall narrow windows (central one is the tallest, flanked by two shorter windows) and an upper rose window whilst the apex is surmounted by a narrow brick-built bell tower on stone shoulders with a gabled top. The church is known to contain a number of items dedicated as war memorials, including the porch on the southern wall (5-6).