Church Heritage Record 624188

Originally nave of three bays with gallery at west end and transepts of two bays, canted chancel and vestry.

The subdivided nave 15m (50ft) wide x 11m (36m) long.

Built in 1880 by James Medland Taylor and Henry Taylor of Manchester, a prolific practice in the North-West, the senior partner and chief designer being Medland Taylor. As well as many churches, he designed Stalybridge library (the Astley Cheetham library). The design used here is a typical example of Taylor’s idiosyncrasies and the west end in particular shows similarities to an earlier design executed at Holy Trinity in Ashton under Lyne, though much simpler.

All but the transepts and chancel were converted into a large hall and ancillary accommodation in the late 1980s.

The building is not liturgically orientated but liturgical orientations are used for the purposes of this entry. 

An unusual building but entirely unsurprising from Medland Taylor, the design perhaps only restricted from further quirks by a lack of funds. 

The west front has a lean-to roof over a baptistery and external doorways. The baptistery with an arcade of eight short lancets and doorways at either end with moulded brick stepped arches (the northern blocked).

The baptistery joins the west wall at either end by means of a half gable - if viewed from the north or south. From the west there are three small steps at each side of the roof leading to a deep thin buttress with a long weathering and gabled top. Between these buttresses there are two pilaster buttresses, with single weatherings, up to the belfry creating between them a tall thin arch with a segmental arched head. Within the arch there are two thin tall, barely pointed, lights of equal height with a small cinquefoil roundel over. On either side of the pilaster buttresses are single lancets set within brick archways which die into the buttresses. Other than the lancets these arches are blind.

The belfry turret is rectangular in plan with a small gable face to the east and west. Both these faces have paired louvred openings whereas the north and south have single. The short spirelet is of slate and has a slight splay-foot. At the top there are tiny gablets to each face beneath the cross finial.

The nave has three bays and gabled projections at both the east and west ends. Dealing first with the latter. There are cross gables to the north and south giving the illusion of a wider west elevation despite extending no further than the width of the nave. The gables are tall, meeting the roof at about half its height giving additional space at an upper level. 

The gables have single lancets in the west wall (creating a corner junction with the doorways to the baptistery) and two sets of four lancets to either gable end. The upper set of lancets on each gable are equal in height but slightly stepped from west to east. The lower set are shorter but all on the same level.

The three bays of the nave are separated by deep plain buttresses each with a long offset. The two westernmost bays on either side have four lancets, the central two equal but taller than the outer two. The last bay before the transepts have three of the four light arrangement just described. The lack of the fourth lancet could be indicative of the transepts being built at a later stage.

The transept gables at the east end of the nave are large in scale and deep, extending some distance from the nave roof. The gable ends are simple with a five lancet stepped arrangement and five shorter equal lancets forming an arcade beneath.

The south transept has been partitioned off and forms an entrance foyer and additional rooms in the eastern half. The nave was subdivided in recent times to create a hall. 

Each transept has two bays divided by a sturdy square brick column. The north is partitioned to full height with glazing to the upper half. The south-eastern section houses the organ. It has a tall pointed arch which is filled with timber panelling and organ pipes. The two dormer lights open above the arch. A cupboard conceals a door behind and into the organ chamber. The north-eastern section contains the vestry. Here there is another tall pointed arch filled with panelling. The lower sections of panelling contains the door to the vestry and has a glazed cusped arcade. Again the dormer lights are overhead.

The chancel arch is set back behind a slight barrel vault. In the north and south walls there are two pointed arches each containing a recess; the western with a further timber panel set within with a segmental arch. The sanctuary is simple with few furnishings and raised by three steps. The whole of this eastern section is carpeted.

The arcade of windows in the transepts has a deep sill with small strainer arches linking to make a passageway along the sill.