St Michael's Church, Middleton

St Michael's Church, Middleton
St Michael's Church, Middleton Location in Greater Manchester
Coordinates: 53°32′52″N2°11′26″W / 53.5477°N 2.1906°W / 53.5477; -2.1906
OS grid reference	SD 875,057
Location	Townley Street, Middleton, Greater Manchester
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Michael, Middleton
History
Status	Parish church
Dedication	Saint Michael
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	19 September 1969
Architect(s)	Austin and Paley
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1901
Completed	1930
Specifications
Materials	Stone, tile roofs
Administration
Parish	Tonge-cum-Alkrington
Deanery	Heywood and Middleton
Archdeaconry	Rochdale
Diocese	Manchester
Province	York
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Revd Jenni Beaumont

St Michael's Church is in Townley Street, Middleton, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Heywood and Middleton, the archdeaconry of Rochdale, and the diocese of Manchester. ^[1] The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. ^[2]

History

The church was built in 1901–02 replacing an earlier church on the site dating from 1839. It was paid for by J. W. Lees, a brewer. ^[3] It was designed by the Lancaster firm of architects, Austin and Paley. At this time only the east end and the first bay of the nave were built. ^[4] The nave was completed in 1911, ^[5] and the tower was added between 1926 and 1931 at a cost of £6,656 (equivalent to £460,000in 2020), ^{[6] [7]}

Architecture

St Michael's is constructed in stone with a tile roof. Its architectural style is Perpendicular. The plan consists of a four-bay nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, a chancel with a side chapel, vestry and organ chamber, and a virtually free-standing tower to the west of the north aisle. At the west end of the church is a canted baptistry. The tower is in four stages, with bands separating the stages. It has angle buttresses, an octagonal stair turret, a doorway over which is a four-light window, clock faces, three-light bell openings, and a castellated parapet. The windows along the sides of the aisles have two, three or four lights with flat heads; those in the clerestory have three lights under round-arched heads. Both the east and west windows have five lights. Inside the church the arcades are carried on octagonal piers. ^[2] Most of the stained glass is by Shrigley and Hunt. ^[3]

See also

• Greater Manchester portal

• List of churches in Greater Manchester
• Listed buildings in Middleton, Greater Manchester
• List of ecclesiastical works by Austin and Paley (1895–1916)
• List of ecclesiastical works by Austin and Paley (1916–44)

References

Citations

1. St Michael, Tonge-cum-Alkrington, Church of England , retrieved 11 February 2012
2. Historic England, "Church of St Michael, Rochdale (1068468)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 11 February 2012
3. Hartwell, Hyde & Pevsner 2004, p. 511.
4. Brandwood et al. 2012, p. 244.
5. Brandwood et al. 2012, p. 248.
6. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017), "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)", MeasuringWorth, retrieved 2 December 2021
7. Brandwood et al. 2012, p. 251.

Sources

• Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon: English Heritage, ISBN   978-1-84802-049-8
• Hartwell, Clare; Hyde, Matthew; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2004), Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ISBN   0-300-10583-5