- St George's Church, Altrincham
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St George's Church, Altrincham 
St George's Church, AltrinchamLocation in Greater Manchester
St George's Church, Altrincham53°23′24″N 2°21′04″W / 53.3900°N 2.3511°WCoordinates: 53°23′24″N 2°21′04″W / 53.3900°N 2.3511°W OS grid reference SJ 766 882 Location Altrincham, Greater Manchester Country England Denomination Anglican Website St George, Altrincham History Dedication Saint George Architecture Status Parish church Functional status Active Heritage designation Grade II Designated 12 July 1985 Architect(s) Paley and Austin Architectural type Church Completed 1897 Specifications Materials Red brick with terracotta dressings
Slate spire and clay tile roofsAdministration Parish St George, Altrincham Deanery Bowdon Archdeaconry Macclesfield Diocese Chester Province York Clergy Vicar(s) Father Edmund Betts
Revd. Margaret JonesCurate(s) Revd. James McKeran Assistant priest Revd. Margaret Jones
Revd. Michael HepworthLaity Parish administrator Lynda Higgins St George's Church, Altrincham is in the town of Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England (grid reference SJ766882). The church is a Grade II listed building.[1] It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Bowdon.[2]
Contents
History
The original church was built as a chapel of ease to St Mary's Church, Bowdon in 1799.[3] The tower and spire date from 1874 and the chancel from 1886.[1] In 1896–97 the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin rebuilt the nave.[4]
Sketch of proposed Church prepared by architects Austin & Paley in 1895.
Picture of St George's Altrincham from the south in 1895.The History of the Parish Church of St George's, Altrincham has its roots within the Wesleyan Movement. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, made his first visit to the town in 1738. He was then a young man of 35. He returned several times, his last visit being on Easter Monday, 1790, only one year before his death.His purpose on that occasion was to preach at the first Wesleyan chapel in the town in Chapel Walk - later to become Regent Road.
A man named Oswald Leicester (later to become Snr. Not to be confused with Oswald Leicester Jnr.) was a successful grocer in the time when Grocers were becoming rich off exotic foods from Colonies His Third son was born in 1761 and baptised on the 17th of September 1761. He was named Oswald Leicester Jnr. or as St George's Altrincham would have called "The Founding Father of St George's Altrincham".
The First Sunday School
In 1783 the young Oswald Leicester, then only 22, formed a Sunday School in Altrincham; renting the upper room of a cottage in Ashley Road, Altrincham, then known as Thorley Moor Lane. There, on Sundays, children climbed the stone outer flight to learn to read and write, to hear Bible stories. He had closely followed the example of Robert Raikes who had founded the first Sunday School in 1780. It is very likely that both Leicesters were influenced by Wesley's teachings.
Oswald Leicester's first Sunday School 1783.There is no evidence, however, that the Sunday School was supported by the Wesleyans. It must be regarded as an independent act of zeal and faith by the Leicesters. In doing so Oswald Leicester laid the for the rest of his life. It was to lead to the building of the Parish Church of Altrincham.
Architecture
Exterior
The church is constructed in red brick with terracotta dressings. It has a slate spire and clay tile roofs. Its plan consists of a west tower and porch, a nave with a clerestory, north and south six-bay aisles which continue alongside the tower, and a polygonal chancel with a vestry and chapel. The tower is in three stages with corbelled eaves. The east window has three lights above which is a rose window. The other windows have semicircular heads.[1]
Interior
In the chancel is a memorial to Rev. O. Leicester, the church's first curate-in-charge who died in 1831. Also in the church are two painted churchwardens' staves dated 1838.[5] The stained glass windows in the chancel dating from 1895 were designed by Mary Lowndes, the first woman glazier in the Arts and Crafts movement and a leading figure in the suffragette movement.[3] The two-manual organ is in the west gallery. It was built in 1977 by Wood Wordsworth & Co. of Leeds, using the case, some pipework and other items from Bridge End Chapel, Brighouse.[6]
Members
Incumbents
Years Active Name 1799–1831 Revd Oswald Leicester 1831–1834 Revd George Ranking 1834–1843 Revd Wilmot Cave Browne Cave 1843–1856 Revd Dr Francis Orton DCL 1856–1859 Revd John B.Honnywill 1859–1868 Revd George London Vicars of the Parish Church since 1868 1868–1893 Revd George London 1893–1902 Revd William Maurice Bonner Lutener 1902–1914 Revd Ernest Robert Tarbuck, BA 1914–1925 Revd Ernest Scales Oliver 1925–1944 Revd William Henry Farnes Palin LTh Honorary Canon of Chester Cathedral 1944–1963 Revd Oscar Littler, LTh, Hon CF 1963–1976 Revd Michael Henshall, BA, Honorary Canon of Chester Cathedral 1976–1990 Revd Roger Kearten Faulkner, Honorary Canon of Chester Cathedral 1990–2006 Revd Brian Roy McConnell Dip The Honorary Canon of Chester Cathedral Rural. Dean of Bowdon Deanery. Residentiary Canon warden at Carlisle Cathedral (Present Position) 2006–Present Day Revd Edmund Betts References
- ^ a b c "Church of St George, Altrincham", Heritage Gateway website (Heritage Gateway (English Heritage, Institute of Historic Building Conservation and ALGAO:England)), 2006, http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=212754&resourceID=5, retrieved 9 November 2010
- ^ Churches in the Diocese, Diocese of Chester, http://www.chester.anglican.org/churches.asp, retrieved 3 May 2009
- ^ a b Building St George's, St. George Altrincham, http://www.st-georges-alt.freeserve.co.uk/news.htm, retrieved 20 January 2008
- ^ Hartwell, Claire; Hyde, Matthew; Hubbard, Edward; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2011) [1971], Cheshire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 98, ISBN 978-0-300-17043-6
- ^ Morant, Roland W. (1989), Cheshire Churches, Birkenhead: Countyvise, p. 95, ISBN 0-907768-18-0
- ^ Cheshire (Manchester, Greater), Altrincham, St. George (H00004), British Institute of Organ Studies, http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=H00004, retrieved 11 November 2010
Categories:- Church of England churches in Greater Manchester
- Grade II listed churches
- Grade II listed buildings in Greater Manchester
- Diocese of Chester
- Austin and Paley buildings
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