Our history pages are being updated with new material being used to add to and expand Shirley Bayley's original notes.

The population of Stalybridge grew rapidly during the Industrial Revolution and the parish church of Mottram could seat only 700 persons. Locally there was "Old" St. Georges church and a number of non-conformist chapels but there was not enough provision for the vast increase in worshippers who now lived in the town.

1823 Description of Stalybridge from James Butterworth's "History and description of the town and parish of Ashton-under-Lyne etc."

1825 Description of Stayley Bridge from 1825 Trade Directory.

1834/6. The Report of a committee of the Manchester Statistical Society on the Condition of the Working Classes in an extensive manufacturing district, in 1834, 1835, and 1836 (London: Ridgway & Son; Manchester Bancks and Co. 1838). Included information on the religious allegience of households in Stalybridge. The report made the following comment:

" That the members of the Established church amount, in Manchester, Salford, and Bury, to 53 per cent of the whole, or rather more than one-half, and in Ashton, Dukinfield, and Stalybridge, to only 26 per cent, or little more than one fourth." Of the Heads of Families surveyed, 33.5% made no religious profession - for lodgers this was higher at 44.5%. You can see the full table here.

1842 Description of Stalybridge from Edwin Butterworth's "Historical account of the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Stalybridge etc. 1842.

A meeting was held on the 9th May 1835 in the Eagle Inn to which 13 gentlemen attended; 12 local mill owners and a local solicitor. They were all of the opinion that a new church should be built in the township of Stayley. A subscription list was opened at the meeting and 1,040 pounds was pledged and which was found to be over a quarter of the money required to build the new church. The Earl of Stamford donated 10,627 square yards of land upon which to build the church and for the original grave yard. Richard Tattersall of Manchester was chosen as the architect with the brief that the design was to be the Early English Perpendicular Style of the 13th century. The Foundation Stone was laid by Viscount Combermere on the 2nd February 1838 with an impressive ceremony which was watched by some 12,000 - 15,000 prople. The church was consecrated on the 9th October 1839 and almost the total cost of 4,100 pounds was covered by the subscriptions raised.

1838 Click here to read the Manchester Guardian's account of the foundation stone laying ceremony in February 1838

1838 Click here to read an article in the Architectural Magazine for 1838 on a new church for Stayley Bridge (i.e. St Paul's). The detailed description of the building given here appears word for word in a number of publications so must have been drawn from the architect's brief or similar document.

1840 - The British Critic reviews St Paul's. The British Critic was, at this time, the house magazine of the Tractarians and was edited by Newman and his brother-in-law Tom Mozley. Its building reviews had an influence in forming the opinions of A W Pugin - the great advocate of gothic as the "only" Christian architectural style. Click here to read the review.

...top of page...

The first services were conducted by the Rev.Mr. Saville Evans who was a retired clergyman and who lived locally. He, together with his sisters, had taken an active part in the formation of the new parish. He conducted the first christenings of 4 boys and 7 girls in the new church on the 13th October 1839 and also a number of burials, but no marriages, prior to the arrival of the appointed vicar,Rev. William Worth Hoare B.D. who took up his ministry at St. Paul's in January 1840. The living was from the beginning, and still is, a perpetual curacy in the gift of trustees.

Hymns seem to have featured in services at St Paul's from the beginning. In 1840 a Stalybridge publisher or printer, D. Cunningham, produced a fourteen page booklet: "Hymns used at St George's Chapel and St Paul's Church, Stalybridge". You will find a copy of it here.

1840 Charity Sermon by the Dean of Achonry in support of the Sunday Schools. See the notice from the Manchester Guardian here. The Dean was, in fact, William Hoare's brother, Edward N Hoare who had been ordained at Lichfield in 1825. He published a book in 1841 attacking the Tracts for the Times, so it is not surprising that he took the opportunity to preach against them as well - especially as they were about to reach the final and most controversial of the Tracts with Newman's Tract 90 - you can read his book here.
Read about the Tractarian Movement here.

1849 Bazaar in aid of St Paul's National Schools at Stalybridge and Millbrook. St Paul's, like many churches, was closely involved with education for much of its history - especially in the time before universal primary education became the norm. This meant that considerable effort was spent on fund raising for the schools in the parish. The school at Millbrook was opened in 1848 and licensed for divine service in 1849 after which services were held there each Sunday evening. The admission price for this event would probably exclude many working people. See the advertisement for this event which appeared in the Manchester Guardian together with a report on the success of the Bazaar.
The Bazaar raised nearly £500 - this may have had the puchasing power of £33,680 by 1998!See currency value calculations here.

William Worth Hoare, the first vicar of St Paul's died suddenly in 1869. The loss of their vicar had a profound effect on members of the parish, the school and local clergy. One of them, Thomas Freeman, marked the event with a poem which was later published in a collection of Freeman's verse.
Click here to see the poem.

The church has only been the shape we see to-day since 1899. It was originally an oblong building with a tower.

Church extended in the 1890s

In 1896 £2,400 was raised by subscriptions and a bazaar which was held in the Town Hall over four days during February. The bazaar was considered to be a remarkable financial and social success. The money raised was used to pay for the re-seating and re-flooring of most of the church, a completely new heating installation with radiators etc. and the building of the South Transept (the North Transept had been completed in 1874). At the same time the Harrison family provided the alabaster reredos in the Sanctuary. The Vicar, Canon Sheriff, said at the annual Vestry meeting, that he was glad the church extensions and improvements would be completed before the end of the century and that the church was now a perfect Latin cross as the architect of the original plans had intended.

Services of re-dedication were held in October 1899 when the vicar preached at the morning service and the Ven. Archdeacon Woosnam, Vicar of St. Margaret's Church, Dunham Massey, preached at the evening service. The following Sunday Dr Jayne, the Bishop of Chester, came to St. Paul's and took for his sermon the text Ruth 11:4 about Boaz - that "all were labourers together in the harvest field".

1984 Redication of the church following restoration work after the church was damaged by a fire in the vestryin 1981. Click here to see details of the rededication service.

...top of page...