| St. Matthew | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Basic information | |
| Location | Chadderton, Greater Manchester, England |
| Affiliation | Church of England |
| District | Diocese of Manchester |
| Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Parish church |
| Website | St Matthew and St Luke |
| Architectural description | |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Completed | 1857 |
| Spire(s) | 1 |
The Parish Church of St. Matthew is the Church of England parish church for Chadderton in Greater Manchester, England. It forms part of the Diocese of Manchester and is one of several Grade II listed buildings in Greater Manchester. [1]
The Church of England is the established church of England. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the most senior cleric, although the monarch is the supreme governor. The Church of England is also the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain by the third century, and to the 6th-century Gregorian mission to Kent led by Augustine of Canterbury.
A parish church in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, often allowing its premises to be used for non-religious community events. The church building reflects this status, and there is considerable variety in the size and style of parish churches. Many villages in Europe have churches that date back to the Middle Ages, but all periods of architecture are represented.
Chadderton is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies along the course of the River Irk and the Rochdale Canal, on undulating land in the foothills of the Pennines, 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Oldham, 4.5 miles (7.2 km) south of Rochdale and 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of the city of Manchester.
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The Parish of St. Matthew, Chadderton was formed in 1844. [2] Prior to the present building there was a small wooden chapel erected in 1845, to meet the spiritual needs of the parish, whilst the present building was constructed. Work, by E. H. Shellard began in 1847 and the church in its original form was completed and consecrated in 1857. Although the parish at that time was geographically large the number of dwellings was not. However, over the years more housing was built and the parish was divided to form the parishes St. Mark, St. Luke, St. Gabriel, Middleton Junction, St. Anne, Royton and St. Matthew; part of the parish was also annexed to the parish of St. Leonard, Middleton. The current parish has about 2500 dwellings with a population of approximately 7000 souls. Much of the parish is made up of semi-detached housing, with some detached and some terraced. Whilst the area in general can be described as sub-urban, there are pockets of rural land which is farmed, and areas of green-belt. The parish has various ages of housing (most of which is privately owned) some 19th Century, some pre-war and post-war, as well as a 1970s estate and some local authority housing. Around the parish a small retail park and various local shops are located.
Edwin Hugh Shellard was an English architect who practised in Manchester, being active between 1844 and 1864. Most of his works are located in Northwest England, in what is now Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire. He was mainly an ecclesiastical architect, and gained contracts to design at least 13 churches for the Church Building Commission, these churches being known as Commissioners' churches. Most of his designs were in Gothic Revival style, usually Early English or Decorated, but he also experimented in the Perpendicular style. He employed the Romanesque Revival style in his additions to St Mary's Church, Preston. The National Heritage List for England shows that at least 23 of his new churches are designated as listed buildings, four of them at Grade II*. The authors of the Buildings of England series consider that his finest work is St John's Minster in Preston, Lancashire.
The churchyard contains war graves of 14 service personnel of World War I and 9 of World War II. [3]
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars. The Commission is also responsible for commemorating Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action during World War II. The Commission was founded by Sir Fabian Ware and constituted through Royal Charter in 1917 named the Imperial War Graves Commission. The change to the present name took place in 1960.
World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
