Church of St Aiden Manchester Road, Sudden Rochdale

Replacing a mission room of 1883. Moore, who was appointed in 1909. St Aidan's is a very successful building with Moore using the full power of early Gothic. Outside the windows are tall lancets, mostly singly or in pairs with the exception of the small belfry windows where two-light windows of c. 1300 are allowed. The south aisle has its own gabled roof, the north one, being smaller (a case of asymmetry) is set under a catslide roof covering both nave and aisle. On the south is one of Moore's mall towers. It is faced with local stone and, unusually, the specification called for stone rubble, not brick, for the main body of the walls. There are two other features worth noting outside and which give a clue to what to expect inside - one is the flanking of the tower by the aisles, the other is the tall chancel. [A Victorian Society tour to Rochdale, St Aidan and  Royton, St Anne led by Geoff Brandwood, 4 May 1996]