Chorlton Road Congregational Church

Foundation stone laid on 20? July 1860. Schools completed on 25 November 1860 and used for worship until the church opened on 12 September 1861. The final cost was approximately £8,000. At this time, the promoters and congregation were meeting in an temporary iron church beyond the toll bar, and most formerly met in New Cannon Street Chapel, founded in 1753. The complex included schools, lecture theatres etc. Further extensions during the nineteenth century. In 1863 Dr MacFaden was appointed minister. MacFaden died on 21 November 1889 and was buried in Southern Cemetery. A memorial window to him was placed at the end of the church.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION OF A CONGREGATIONAL CHAPEL – On Saturday afternoon, the foundation of a new Independent Chapel and Schools was laid on a plot of ground fronting Chorlton Road, Moss Side and near to the toll bar. The architects are Messrs Poulton and Woodman, of Reading; the contractors, Messrs Young and Company, of Oxford. The ceremony of laying the stone was performed by Mr James Thompson, to whom was presented by the building committee a silver trowel, bearing a suitable inscription. [Manchester Guardian 9 July 1859 page 2]

OPENING OF THE CHORLTON ROAD CHAPEL - On Thursday evening a meeting in connection with the opening of the Chorlton Road Congregational Chapel near Brooks’s Bar was held in the school-room adjoining the chapel. The foundation stone of the edifice was laid on 7 July last year by Mr James Thompson. In November the large schoolroom was completed and divine service was held there until the completion of the chapel, which was opened for public worship on Sunday last. The style of the building is the decorated Gothic, and the material is Yorkshire parpoint with Hollington stone dressings. The east front is divided by buttresses into three portions, the outer compartments being slightly recessed and having a single light window in each. The centre division has a large five-light window, the upper part being filled with tracery of characteristic design. Over the large window is a quatrefoil opening serving as one of the ventilators to the upper part of the roof, and surmounting the whole is a stone cross. The main entrance to the building is at the north-east angle at the base of a tower standing out from the main building. Behind the chapel and at the sides of the apse are the ministers’ and deacons’ vestries, cloakroom, stairs corridor and school entrance; infants’ classrooms, room for prayer meetings and two classrooms. The visible access to the school is covered with a turret, 60 feet high, which gives much character to that portion of the building. The internal arrangements of the chapel are most complete; and in the groined roof, stained glass window, tessellated floor and carved pews and pulpit, no small amount of decorative taste is displayed. There is accommodation for about 800 persons. The general outlines of the building are varied and pleasing, its proportions are well maintained and it forms altogether a specimen of ecclessiastical architecture of which the architects, Messrs Poulton and Woodman of Reading have just reason to be proud. [Manchester Guardian 21 September 1861 page 4]

Reference    Manchester Guardian Tuesday 10 April 1860 Page 1 (Contracts)
Reference    Manchester Guardian Saturday 14 April 1860 Page 2 (Contracts)
Reference    Building News 13 April 1860 page 301 – contracts
Reference    Manchester Guardian 9 July 1859 page 2 – foundation stone
Reference    Manchester Guardian 9 July 1860 page
Reference    Manchester Guardian 21 September 1861 page 4 - opening