Church of Saint Margaret Whalley Road Whalley Range Manchester

The church, intended to serve the growing Whalley Range estate, was named after Samuel Brooks’s wife Margaret, who had died, aged 48, on 29 February 1840. Samuel Brooks donated the land for the church and £1,000, while his son, William Cunliffe Brooks, gave £500 and these, with other donations from the Brooks family, brought their aggregate total to £2,000.  Joseph Crompton, Alfred Binyon and Charles Townsend each gave £500 while Mr Alderman Neildl and Mr Egerton contributed £200 each. In total, more than £4,500 was raised by subscription. The foundation stone was laid by James Prince Lee in the afternoon of 11 February 1848. Lee had been enthroned as the first Bishop of Manchester on the morning of the same day and following a lunch at Whalley House, this was his first official engagement.  The church was consecrated on 8 April 1849 and the rectory completed in 1860, at a total cost of approximately £6,000. There were seats for 563 and the church soon became the most fashionable of the district. It was, according to The Sphinx newspaper in 1869, “a pretty church with ivy-covered walls.” However, the population of the parish continued to grow rapidly, from 3,800 in 1861 to more than 8,000 in 1869, and rose throughout the remainder of the century as ever more of the district was given over to housing.  To meet the religious needs of the increasing population, several additional churches were built in parishes carved from the original as the century progressed.

Set at an angle to Whalley Road at its junction with Rufford Road, St. Margaret's Church was designed in the late decorated style "all in a new attitude of archaeological faithfulness" according to Pevsner. Unusually, the two light clerestory windows were placed over the spandrel, not the apex of the arcades arches.

A side chapel was added on the south side of the chancel about 1920 as the1914-18 War Memorial Chapel. This contains unusual stained glass given in memory of Alfred Neal Hyde (of Hyde’s Brewery) a member of the RAF, killed in action in 1918. Likenesses of his face, presumably taken from photographs are montaged on to the bodies of mythical warriors. Problems with dry rot and settlement in the 1980s threatened the church with closure and demolition but sufficient funds were found to replace the roof and underpin the foundations. Although the original rectory has been demolished and replaced with a modern house, the church survives.

Some confusion has arisen concerning the architect of this church.  Both Manchester Guardian of 12 February 1848 and the Ecclesiologist of April 1849 give the architect as J P Harrison of London. Given the close links between James Park Harrison and the Ecclesiological Society, this attribution must be considered correct.  It is therefore assumed that the name T P Harrison as given in the Manchester Guardian report of the consecration of 2 May 1849 was a typographical error – one of a number in the report. Unfortunately, this error was subsequently repeated in the Illustrated London News and Manchester Faces & Places. Attribution to T P Harrison still persists in such documents as the Conservation Area report for Whalley Range, prepared by Manchester Corporation in 2016.  Rev Arthur Dobbs in “Like a Mighty Tortoise” 1978 credited the design to J P Harrison but of Manchester. While the original Pevsner gives the architect as J Harrison, the revised edition (Pevsner and Hartwell Manchester and the South East, page 481), give the architect as James Harrison of Chester. Although the Church Heritage Open Day leaflet correctly gives the architect as James Park Harrison, it confuses his works with those of James Harrison of Chester.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE OF ST MARGARET’S CHURCH, WHALLEY RANGE - ….. The style of the church is Decorated. The plan consists of a nave 65 feet by 19 feet 10 inches (to the centre of the pillars); north and south aisles, 65 feet by 11 feet 11 inches; chancel, 33 feet by 18 feet; chancel north aisle 24 feet by 10 feet; north porch 11 feet by 10 feet 8 inches; and tower (outside measure), 19 feet square. The spire is a broach ornamented with two tiers of spire lights; its height is 75 feet 6 inches. The whole height of the tower and spire from the ground to the top of the cross is 132 feet. The whole length of the interior from the west door to the east wall is 116 feet. The height of the nave is 33 feet 6 inches; of the chancel, 31 feet 6 inches. The walls are faced externally with Southowram walling stone, with worked quoins, parapets and dressings. All the pillars and arches, as well as the internal quoins and jambs of the doors and windows are of freestone. The windows at the west end of the aisles and of the tower are pointed, of two lights. The side windows of the aisles are of three lights, under pointed segmental arches, as are also the two-light windows of the clerestory. The windows on the south side of the chancel are of two lights, and have a fleur-de-lis pattern of tracery in their heads. The last window of the chancel is intended to be a composition on the same idea, only with three lights. The chancel steps are to be of dove-coloured Grafton stone, and the pavement throughout the church is to be laid with Minton’s tiles, arranged in patterns. The nave and aisles are to have benches of the ancient shape. The pulpit will stand at the north-east angle of the nave and the font at the north-west side of the cross passage. The roofs are intended to be all open; they will be very solid and the boarding is to be covered with asphalted felt to keep out the wind. The clerestory roof is not of an acute pitch; it is trussed with heavy principals, king-posts, and cambered tie beams, moulded. The spandrels will be filled with tracery. The chancel roof is canted. There are no arches between the chancel and chancel aisle. The east end of it is to be walled off as a vestry, and the remainder is to be occupied by the organ, but there will be open tracery in front of the organ, in the chancel wall, to allow of a passage for the sound. The contract has been taken by Messrs Locke and Nesham; Mr J P Harrison is the architect. [Manchester Guardian

CONSECRATION OF ST MARGARET’S CHURCH, WHALLEY RANGE – The church of St Margaret, Whaley Range, moss Side, was on Saturday afternoon last consecrated for the performance of divine worship by the Right Rev the Lord Bishop of Manchester. ….. The style of the church is Decorated. The plan consists of a nave 65 feet by 19 feet 10 inches (to the centre of the pillars); north and south aisles, 65 feet by 11 feet 11 inches; chancel, 33 feet by 18 feet; chancel north aisle 24 feet by 10 feet; north porch 11 feet by 10 feet 8 inches; and tower 19 feet square. The spire is a stone broach with an entasis, and has two tiers of spire lights; its height is 72 feet 6 inches. The whole height of the tower and spire from the ground to the top of the cross is 132 feet. The whole length of the interior from the west door to the east wall is116 feet. The height of the nave is 33 feet 6 inches; of the chancel, 31 feet 6 inches. The walls are faced externally with Southoram (sic) stone, with worked quoins, parapets and dressings. All the pillars and arches, as well as the internal quoins and jambs of the doors and windows are of Leeds stone. The windows at the west end of the aisles and of the tower are pointed, of two lights. The side windows of the aisles are of three lights, under pointed segmental arches, as are also the two-light windows of the clerestory; those on the south side of the chancel are of two lights, with a fleur-de-lis pattern of tracery; and the east window is an admirable composition of three lights. The windows of the aisles are filled with stained glass, and the tower window and the chancel east window contain painted glass, representing respectively, Christ talking to the woman of Samaras, and the Crucifixion. The chancel steps are of stone, incised with texts; the pavement is tiled in pattern; and the passages of the nave and aisles are paved with stone, in which are inserted alternatively, hot air grates and tiles, a border of red and blue tiles running on each side of the stone. The altar table is of cedar, and is vested for daily service in green, and for festivals in embroidered crimson. The east wall of the chancel is draped in crimson cloth. The prayer desk and the choristers’ benches are of carved oak, and are arranged north south in the chancel. The eagle lectern of carved oak is at the entrance to the chancel, the pulpit of walnut wood, is at the north-east angle of the nave, and the font, of Caen stone, stands at the north-west side of the cross passage. The roofs are open – that of the clerestory has moulded principals, king-posts, and cambered tie beams, the spandrels are filled with tracery. The chancel roof is canted. There are no arches between the chancel and its aisle, the east end of which is walled off as a vestry, and the remainder is occupied by the organ, in front of which is an unglazed window of stone, looking into the chancel. A view has been published. Messrs Locke and Newsham (sic) are the builders; Mr T P Harrison (sic) is the architect. The laying of the foundation stone was, as our readers may remember, the first act of the first bishop of Manchester, and it has been completed within a year at a cost of £6,000. There are also endowments in the consols to the amount of £2,000. There is accommodation for 500 worshippers, one third of the seats being free. [Manchester Guardian 2 May 1849 page 6]

ST MARGARET, WHALLEY RANGE, MANCHESTER. -  An anonymous correspondent— (we should be very glad to learn his name) — deserves our thanks for a beautiful lithograph of the above church, consecrated April 29, 1849. designed by Mr. J. P. Harrison. The view, being taken from a very little to the north of west, exhibits the west tower and spire to perfection, but the body of the church in very sharp perspective. The plan comprises chancel, clerestoried nave, two aisles, north-west porch, and west tower: the style is somewhat florid Middle-Pointed. The design is a very masterly one; the tower and spire of really beautiful proportions. The tower has three stages, the middle one being the smallest. Each side of the tower is flanked by very bold buttresses, of four stages, dying off (before they reach the eaves of the broach spire) on the faces of the belfry stage in gabled set-offs — the gables being not horizontal, but rather affectedly sloped. The two lower stages range with the string-course that marks off the lower stage of the tower. This stage has, in its west face, a deeply recessed door below a two-light traceried window. The middle stage has a mere rectangular slit; the belfry has a two-light window, with an elongated quatrefoil in the head. The spire is an octagonal broach, very graceful and lofty, and of an extreme simplicity; with double spire-lights under crocketed gables on the cardinal faces, this arrangement being repeated on a smaller scale on the alternate sides, higher up. The spire terminates in a metal cross and weather-cock. We regret to be able to give but few details of the rest of the church. The west window of the north aisle is like the belfry window, which is perhaps a pity, though its style of tracery is very well designed to match the very characteristic style of the west window of the tower. There are bulky diagonal buttresses at the western angles of the aisles: and both the aisles and the clerestory have those heavy parapets, which are somewhat of a mannerism with Mr. Harrison. We are extremely pleased with the design, which testifies to this architect's felicity of proportion, and talent of successfully imitating the effect of an ancient church. [Ecclesiologist Volume IX, 1849 page 895-896]

Reference    Manchester Guardian 12 February 1848 page 7  - foundation
Reference    Manchester Guardian 2 May 1849 page 6 – consecration
Reference    Illustrated London News 2 June 1849 page 373 with illustration (text taken from MG)
Reference    Ecclesiologist Volume IX, 1849 page 895-896
Reference    Manchester Faces & Places
Reference    Bourne, Christopher; Victorian Society Notes: Whalley Range. 12 September 1993
Reference    Dobb, Rev Arthur J. Like a Mighty Tortoise. 1978. Page 242-243
Reference    Pevsner and Hartwell Lancashire: Manchester and the South East, page 481