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Our
history page is currently being revised. We are adding new material to Shirley Bayley's original history notes, either as short items or links to other documents or websites. The research involved in this will take some time, so make a point of visiting this page often to see what's new! |
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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. 1825 Description of Stayley Bridge from 1825 Trade Directory. 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. 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. 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. 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. The church has only been the shape we see to-day since 1899. It was originally an oblong building with a tower. |
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Church extended in the 1890s Note by Shirley BayleyIn 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 vestry. Click here to see details of the rededication service. |
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The land upon which the church was built and the original burial ground, a total of 20,627 square yards, was donated by the Earl of Stamford in 1836. The wall fronting Huddersfield Road to be in dressed stone and the remaining perimeter to be of rough fence walling . This was to comply with the then Chancellor of the Diocese's concern at the state of many church yards which were badly fenced. A problem then as now! The first funeral was of a little girl called
Ellen Ward aged 1 year 11 months who died on the 20 October
1839 and her sister Anne aged 4 years and 10 months was the
third burial. By the 1890s there were 450/500 funerals per year and in July 1891 it was decided that the charge for burials should be the same for both parishioners and non-parishioners. It was decided that a fine would be levied on funerals arriving unreasonably late. The fines were not needed by the church but were to be imposed in the interests of punctuality and for the sake of mourners waiting in the church. There had been instances of hearses being hired for different funerals arranged for the same time. The fines would be directed at the hearse proprietors and only for burials of non-parishioners These fines would be placed in the parish poor fund. The "new yard"About this time further land was purchased by a number of friends of St. Paul's under the leadership of Mr Ralph Bates. The land was walled and laid out and paid for by funds connected with the benefice. It was stated at the time that the fees charged for funerals were fixed by law and there was no public church endowment or tithes for the upkeep of the church yard. Canon Sheriff stated that a public cemetery was needed as the portion of the yard for unrestricted disposal (i.e. non Anglican burials) could be full by 1921. There was much talk of a public cemetery being provided on land between Demesne Street and Ogden's Buildings -probably where the Recreation Centre/Copley Youth Centre is now - on land owned by the late Earl of Stamford although nothing came of the proposal, even though the Town Council applied to borrow £20,000 for the project and work began on roads, drains etc. The scheme came to nothing and appears to have been abandoned by 1925 when it was estimated that by using St. Paul's Churchyard as a town cemetery Stalybridge Borough council saved £500 to £600 per annum. In 1928 the Church Council began to be concerned about what could be done for the upkeep of the yard when no more funerals were allowed. It was suggested a fund be set up and each grave owner pay the sum of £5 to be invested and the interest used for the upkeep of graves but the scheme does not appear to have been implemented. This is a pity as such a fund could be useful at the present time. In the 1990s the church yard was first closed to new graves, then to all burials and finally completely closed and authority handed over to Tameside M.B.C. |
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The windows Note by Shirley BayleyWe have a wonderful collection of stained glass windows at St.Pauls. Stained glass windows have been placed in churches for centuries, not only to enhance the building but also as usually the cartoons (or scenes) illustrate Bible stores and helped the many parishioners who could not read or write, prior to mass education, understand the lessons and sermons of the church services, as well as giving pleasure to all who saw them. The first of our windows was set in place in 1851 and is by Jean-Baptiste Capronnier of Brussels. It is possible it was chosen by Mrs Bates who gave it to the church, after seeing Capronniers displayed at the Great Exhibition in London that year. This became the first of 14 placed in the church over a number of years by this designer (although two were removed during the remodelling of the church in the 1990s). It is believed our windows are one of the most extensive Capronnier collections in England. The magnificent east window is by another prestigious designer, William Wailes of Newcastle on Tyne and was a gift from Mr James Buckley in 1857. The oriel part of the window depicts St. Paul preaching from the Agora in Athens and the main partions depict scenes from the life of Christ. The memorial window placed in the South Transcept in 1913 was gifted by Mrs Garside in memory of her husband and renovated in the 1990s and lit from behind in memory of Mr Ken Lee. The window is a copy of the painting by Wm Holman Hunt titlled "The Light of the World" and the original is in Keble College, Oxford. As a memorial to Canon Sheriff who was Vicar of St. Pauls for 36 years (1888-1923), a west window was erected in 1925 and paid for by public subscription. It is a very different style of window because of its heraldic design depicting the Arms of the Province of York, Diocese of Chester and Cambridge University (from which he graduated). Over the top of the window is an S and a gold cross and on each side is carved in relief in the stone work the monogram in Greek "Jesus and Christ".
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The Lychgate, the main pedestian entrance to the church grounds from Huddersfield Road, gets its name from the Old English word "lich" or "lych" meaning corpse and this was the first resting place for a coffin on its way to burial. Our lychgate was constucted in 1904 as a gift to the church by Thomas Williamson and his wife Mary in celebration of their golden wedding. It was dedicated at a service on September 5 of that year - the Sunday before their annivesary "having previously been admired by the Bishop of Chester"., At the time it was described as the finest lychgate for many miles around and "the upper structure is composed of richly moulded English oak framed with heavy perforated tracery work enriched in places by wrought iron work; this rests on a stone base with pierpoint walling and York stone dressings. The roof is covered in green north country slates and the finial and base surmounting the whole structure are of wrought copper. The gates to Huddersfield Road (which, unfortunately, were stolen in 1999) are panelled, with open panels in the upper portion, enriched with wrought iron cresting. There are inscriptions in gold-finished relief on both sides of the arch and a green granite panel inside the lychgate commemorating the anniversary." It has changed somewhat since then, but is still an impressive structure. The front of the arch facing Huddersfield Road is beautifully enriched with carved spondrels and on the face of it, with raised letters, is a ribbon bearing the inscrription "Everytone of us shall give an account of himself to God". In a similar position on the side facting the churchyard also cut upon the oak in raised letter "Cast thy burdens upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee". On the left hand side when entering the Lych Gate is a panel in green granite containing the inscription "To the Glory of God in thankful commemoration of the 50th anniversary of their marriage" - that is the marriage of Thomas and Mary Williamson. Thomas Williamson came to Stalybridge from Rochdale in 1850 when he was about 22 and set up as a watchmaker and jeweller in the town where he met Mary Kershaw. She was the daughter of a tallow chandler in Cocker Hill, and they were soon married. Mary had a lifelong connection with St Paul's - it was said that she was present as a child at the laying of the foundation stone of the church as well as at similar ceremonies at New St George's and St John's, Dukinfield. For the rest of their lives she and her husband were highly involved with St Paul's where Thomas was twice a church warden and a substantial benefactor, and Mary was "a devoted and loving friend" of the church and its people. Thomas moved from the jewellery trade to establish a brass founding firm, initially near the present Post Office and then on Cocker Hill and finally in Tame Valley at the Atlas Works which became successful and flourished. He was also a director of Albion Mills Co. Ltd. when it was incorporated in 1883. Thomas and Mary lived at Brookfield Villa in the lower part of Mottram Road. They planted and made themselves responsible for the upkeep of the roadside trees in Mottram Road in addition to many other good works for the town which Thomas had adopted. He was a councillor in 1866-9 and again in 1879-85 and was a Justice of the Peace from 1880 onwards. He retired at 62 and devoted the rest of his life to philanthropic, public and religious work quietly and unostetatiously. His chief religious interest was St Paul's where he was "devotedly engrossed, and with money, advice and labour did all he could to forward the good work of the Church". It seems that Thomas and Mary loved and were devoted to God, Stalybridge, St Paul's and each other, but remained childless. When Mary died on Christmas Day 1909, aged 79, Thomas declared that he would die at Christmas to - he passed away two years later on December 13 aged 81. The architects for the lychgate were John Eaton Sons and Cantrell of Ashton and the builders were Wiiiiam Storrs and Sons of Stalybridge, while the ironwork was carried out by Wardy Works of Salford. The hymns
chosen for the dedication service, taken by the then Vicar,
Rev T H Sheriff were: |
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The bells Information supplied by Shirley Bayley and Fred Howard
1. The Misses Ann & Mary Evans After being recast, the bells were re-installed by Taylor's Bellfounders of Loughborough in 1929. Our heaviest bell, the tenor, weighs 18 cwt and the lightest bell is the treble. The Clock HousesIn 1855 the then Earl of Stamford gave a plot of land upon which five houses were built. The rents received were for the upkeep of the clock on the church tower (which was gifted by the Countess of Stamford) and also for the maintenance of the bells. The houses on Huddersfield Road, have always been known as the "Clock Houses" because on the middle house is to be found a facsimile of the church clock. Bell ringersFor the past 150 years there has always been a dedicated band of "Ringers" who have rung the bells to procede church services. During the Second World War the ringers appear to have been rung occasionally i.e. Christmas Day 1942 and Easter Day 1943. From time to time what are known as "Peels" have been performed; one called Grandsire Triples, was rung in April 1893 in two hours and 59 minutes and which consisted of 5040 "changes" (i.e the number of times the bells were pulled). This was a birthday tribute to two of the Ringers. |
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It is clear that it was intended that the church should have an organ from the beginning. In 1838, The Architectural Magazine, writing about a "new church for Staley Bridge" notes that "there is, also, ample room for an organ of adequate size without diminishing the number of sittings". A two manual organ was a gift to the church by James Wilkinson, the owner of Copley Mill. It was built by Hill and Sons of Londonand the Hill Letter Book (1838-61), gives the estimate for Stalybridge (14 September 1843) for an all enclosed 2 manual organ with 15 stops as £350, carriage excepted - no account books survive to show what was actually paid. It was originally installed at the back of the church in the gallery until relocation in its present position in 1874 when it was refurbished by Hill & Sons at a cost of 750 pounds (paid for by 3 donations of 250 pounds each). It was then said to be the finest in the borough. To commemorate the refurbishment, a recital was given by Mr W.T.Best, the organist at St. Georges Hall, Liverpool, who played 10 pieces including works by Haydn and Rossini. Up to 1911 the organ had to be hand blown by bellows but on the installation of electricity in the church an electric motor was fitted. Since this date the organ has been refurbished on several occasions, very extensively during the last 1980s. Click
here for Roger Firth's detailed account of the organ at St Paul's
church. Since then
many fine organists have been connected with the church and
choir. For many years as well as singing each week in the church,
such works as Handel's "Messiah" was performed at
Christmas and Stainer's "Crucifixion" at Easter to
appreciative audiences. In 1927 the choir was increased to 150
for the annual "Messiah" and it was estimated l,000
came to listen. More recently the choir has been of a much more
modest size and there are no longer any boy choristers involved
but there has always been a choir. In more recent times The
Staley Singers have given pleasure to audiences both during
church services and at concerts. |
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