- St Michael and All Angels' Church, Howe Bridge
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St Michael and All Angels' Church,
Howe Bridge
St Michael and All Angels' Church, Howe Bridge, from the eastLocation in Greater Manchester
St Michael and All Angels' Church,
Howe BridgeCoordinates: 53°31′03″N 2°30′25″W / 53.5176°N 2.5069°W OS grid reference SD 665 025 Location Leigh Road, Howe Bridge, Atherton, Greater Manchester Country England Denomination Anglican Website Atherton Team Ministry History Consecrated 7 February 1877 Architecture Status Parish church Functional status Active Heritage designation Grade II* Designated 31 July 1996 Architect(s) Paley and Austin Architectural type Church Style Gothic Revival Groundbreaking 1875 Completed 1877 Specifications Materials Stone with tile roofs Administration Parish St Michael and All Angels,
Howe BridgeDeanery Leigh Archdeaconry Salford Diocese Manchester Province York Clergy Rector Revd Canon Dr Robert Buckley Priest(s) Revd Gareth Thomas Laity Reader Geoff Swift St Michael and All Angels' Church, Howe Bridge, is located in Leigh Road, Howe Bridge, a suburb of Atherton, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Leigh, the archdeaconry of Salford and the diocese of Manchester. Its benefice is united with those of three local churches, St John the Baptist, St George and St Philip, forming a team ministry entitled the United Benefice of Atherton and Hindsford with Howe Bridge.[1] The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.[2]
Contents
History
The church was built between 1875 and 1877 to a design by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin for Fletcher, Burrows and Company, the owners of Atherton colliery.[2] It was consecrated on 7 February 1877, and became a separate parish in its own right in August 1878.[3] A vestry was added at the east end in 1938.[2] The United Benefice was created in 2002.[3]
Architecture
Exterior
St Michael's is constructed in coursed stone with dressings of Runcorn red sandstone ashlar, and has tiled roofs. Its plan is cruciform, consisting of an aisleless nave with a north porch and side chapels, north and south transepts, and a chancel with a clerestory and aisles, and an attached meeting room and choir vestry. Above the crossing is a two-stage octagonal flèche surmounted by a tall spire. At the west end is a large central buttress flanked by two-light windows with pointed arches. Above these in the gable are three small lancet windows. On the north side of the church is a timber-framed porch with a gable and side windows. To the east of this is a single two-light window and two three-light windows. There are similar windows on the south side of the nave. The chapels have two-light windows on the west and three-light windows on their sides. The transept gables contain a three-light window flanked by buttresses, and two lancets above them. In the clerestory there are three small lancet windows on each side. The large east window consists of five stepped lancets. There are further lancet windows in the rooms adjoining the chancel.[2] Against the north wall of the chancel is a gabled stair turret decorated with blind arcading.[4]
Interior
The nave has an open roof. The arcades in the chancel are carried on round and cluster piers, and have double-chamfered arches. The reredos is in marble and dates from 1903. The choir stalls date from 1919 and are in Perpendicular style. The chapel screens are in Decorated style. The chancel screen and the pulpit date from 1919 and are in wrought and cast iron. The font consists of a marble drum with panels. Much of the stained glass is by C. E. Kempe, dating from 1896 and other dates. There is a window in the north transept dated 1922 by Edward Moore. Also in the church are memorials, most of which are to the Fletcher family.[4] The three-manual organ was made in 1932 by Rushworth and Dreaper of Liverpool.[5]
Present day
The church was listed at Grade II* on 31 July 1996.[2] Grade II* is the middle of the three gradings given by English Heritage, and is granted to buildings that "are particularly important buildings of more than special interest".[6] Commenting on its design, the architectural historians Richard Pollard and Nikolaus Pevsner in the Buildings of England series say of the architects that "it is one of their most stimulating churches".[4]
The church arranges regular services on Sundays and during the week. It has a choir and a Mothers' Union, and runs a Sunday School, Scouts, Guides and associated groups.[7]
See also
- List of churches in Greater Manchester
- List of ecclesiastical works by Paley and Austin
References
- ^ St Michael & All Angels, Howe Bridge, Church of England, http://www.achurchnearyou.com/howe-bridge-st-michael-all-angels/, retrieved 28 August 2011
- ^ a b c d e Church of St Michael and All Angels, Howe Bridge (1268288). National Heritage List for England. English Heritage. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
- ^ a b Howe Bridge St Michael and All Angels, Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerks, http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Atherton/stmichael/index.html, retrieved 28 August 2011
- ^ a b c Pollard, Richard; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2006), Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 141–142, ISBN 0-300-10910-5
- ^ Lancashire (Manchester, Greater), Atherton, St. Michael and All Angels, Howe Bridge, (N00546), British Institute of Organ Studies, http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N00546, retrieved 28 August 2011
- ^ Listed buildings, English Heritage, http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/listing/listed-buildings/, retrieved 28 August 2011
- ^ St Michael's, Atherton Team Ministry, http://www.athertonparish.co.uk/st-michaels/, retrieved 28 August 2011
Categories:- Grade II* listed buildings in Greater Manchester
- Grade II* listed churches
- Church of England churches in Greater Manchester
- Anglican Diocese of Manchester
- Religious buildings completed in 1877
- 19th-century Anglican church buildings
- Gothic Revival architecture in Greater Manchester
- Paley and Austin buildings
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