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Regional churches

The William Morris window at Emmanuel Church

St Augustine, Pendlebury (0161 727 8175)

Five miles north west of the city, just off a road named for The Beast, the A666, lies one of the greatest of all British Victorian churches (usually locked tighter than the gold vault of the Bank of England).  This is St Augustine.  Dressed in brick to deny luxury it looks austere glimpsed from the road side but as you get closer the building grows in dignity and power.  It is the scale and the simplicity of the design which is impressive; a rhythm of window and piers, on one large inverted ark.  Inside the simplicity is continued with the only division, the row of internal buttresses moving towards the screen and the sanctuary.  The money for St Augustine's was provided by the philanthropic Heywood family.  It was formerly known as the Miner's Cathedral but all the pits in the area have now closed.  Nikolas Pevsner called it, "one of the English churches of all time."

Emmanuel Church, Didsbury (0161 445 7863)

Emmanuel Church is four or so miles south of the city and contains wonderful William Morris stained glass from 1889.  This church also broadcasts the world's oldest continuous radio programme: Radio 4's Daily Service, five decades old.

St Mary's, Cheadle (0161 428 8050)

St Mary's lies six miles south of the city centre in a prominent position on the main high street.  It dates chiefly from the 1500s and includes fragments of the ancient screen and prone effigies of knights in the Brereton Chapel.

St Georges, Stockport (0161 480 2453)

Seven miles out of the city, St Georges, designed by Austin and Paley in 1896-7 is a model of crisp majestic beauty.  Again in Stockport, in a pleasant situation on the River Goyt lies the simple Chadkirk Chapel.  Part of this building is timber-framed and dates from the C14.

St Michael, Ashton-u-Lyne (0161 343 4305)

To the east of the city the parish church of St Michael again occupies a fine position in the town.  Here the highlights include a splendid set of late medieval stained glass depicting the life of St Helena in eighteen scenes.  The nave interior contains wooden galleries, box pews and a three decker pulpit.

St Michael in Mottram (01457 762268)

Five miles beyond Ashton, the tower of St Michael in Mottram dates from around 1486, whilst the superb view into the hills of the High Peak is the best from any local parish church.

St Leonard, Middleton (0161 643 2693)

Fifteen miles to the north east of the city is the delightful parish church of St Leonard.  The weather boarding on the tower dates from 1667 when new bells were hung.  Most of the present building dates from 1524 but includes a tower and porch from 1412 and there is a repositioned Norman arch and some Norman piers from around 1100.  Most of the 1524 work was paid for by Sir Richard Assheton, the hero of Flodden Field, where the English defeated the Scots.  On the south wall in the sanctuary there is a war memorial window with the names of local men who took part in the battle - the oldest such memorial anywhere.  There is a good medieval screen with stalls and misericords, a fine box pew and several funerary brasses.  Thomas Langley, one of England's greatest early politicians, recently burdened with the title 'the first spin-doctor', came from Middleton.  He completed an early rebuilding of the church and rededicated it to St Leonard.  Langley was Chancellor of England under three Kings and the Bishop of Durham from 1406.

All Saints, Stand (0161 766 2619)

In Stand, six miles north of the city, lies All Saints from 1822 and in a highly fanciful Gothic by Charles Barry, who would later design the present Palace of Westminster (the Houses of Parliament).  The outstanding feature here is the dramatic porch under the tower. 

St Mary, Prestwich (0161 773 2912)

Two miles into the city from Stand lies St Mary.  This church, with elements dating from the later middle ages, has an east end designed by Paley and Austin from 1888-9, one of the most original of architectural practices working in England at that time.  The church is well placed above Prestwich Clough.

St Margaret's, Prestwich (0161 773 2698)

A mile east, St Margaret's provides one of the best collections of woodwork in the region.  Here craftsman Arthur Simpson, on behalf of brewers Holts and Wilsons, provided between 1899 and 1920 an essay in the joys of the Arts and Crafts movement.

St Mary, Deane, Bolton (01204 61819)

The suburb of Deane contains St Mary, a model of the medieval north country church - long, low and embattled.

All Saints, Wigan (01942 244459)

Wigan parish church of All Saints has C13 elements and a pretty location right in the centre of town.

St Mary, Eccles (0161 281 5739)

Four miles due west of the city centre, St Mary is another gem, this time tucked away from the town centre.  The site is ancient, dating from the 1100s although most of the church comes down from the C15, C16 and C19.  There are early stained glass remnants and a moving group of stone effigies from around 1600 of Richard Brereton, his wife and baby.

Catholic Cathedral, Chapel Street, Salford (0161 834 0333)

Close to the city centre lies the Catholic Cathedral of 1885 by Weightman and Hadfield.  This has a beautifully sharp spire and an impressive east window.  The best steeple in the areas though, is that of St Mary's, Hulme, one and a half miles south of the city.  The church, now workspaces, was built in 1858 by J.S. Crowther.  Its spire is exceptonally elegant and slender.

St Mary, Rostherne, nr Tatton (01565 830595)
St Mary, Nether Alderley, nr Alderley Edge (01625 583134)

Further out south from the city, in Cheshire, are the the delightful country churches of St Mary at Rostherne and St Mary, Nether Alderley.  The first of these hangs above Rostherne Mere.  Centuries ago one of the church bells came away from its ropes and rolled into the mere.  After this had happened three times, the local workmen decided to leave it there.  Legend says that at dawn on Easter Day a mermaid swims into the mere through a channel from the Irish Sea and rings the lost bell.  She then sits on the bell, combs her hair and sings!

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