Church of St Benedict Bennett Street Ardwick Manchester

ARDWICK - On Saturday the Bishop of Manchester consecrated the church dedicated to St. Benedict which has been erected at Ardwick. The edifice, including the clergy-houses, etc, cost over £20,000, and which occupies an area of 4,000 square yards, is mostly constructed with common bricks; the arcades, arches, window-jambs, and other features being formed with specially-prepared moulded bricks from designs supplied by the architect. The style adopted is Early Geometric Pointed. The extreme length of the building from east to west is 135ft., by 58ft. wide from north to south. The nave and chancel are respectively 30ft. by 32ft. and 55ft. by 28ft. The aisles are co-extensive with the chancel. The church contains 700 sittings. The building has been erected from designs by Mr. J. S. Crowther, under the superintendence of Mr. E. Dickinson, clerk of the works. The contractors for the whole of the works, except some of the minor fittings are Messrs Cordingley and Stopford. [Building News 26 March 1880 page 384]

ST BENEDICT’S CHURCH, ARDWICK – On Saturday morning (being the day nearest that fixed in the Roman and Anglican calendar as the Feast of the Abbot, St Benedict or St Bennec, which falls on 21 March) the Bishop of Manchester consecrated the church dedicated to that saint, which has been erected at the sole cost of Mr Alderman Bennet, of this city, in the immediate neighbourhood of Hyde Road, Ardwick. The church vis notable in being the first dedicated in this diocese to the memory of the celebrated Norcian abbot of the 6^th century, who founded the Abbey of Monte Cassino, in Naples and compiled the monastic rule “which is principally founded on silence, solitude, prayer, humiliation, and obedience,” and which, as Alban Butler tells us, “for wisdom and discretion, St Gregory the Great preferred to all other rules, and which was afterwards adopted for some time by all the monks of the west.”

The edifice, which is one of the most costly erected by one individual in the diocese for some years, having, including the clergy house, etc, cost over £20,000, is situated with its western front to Dorset Street, and its northern side to Bennett Street, a short , on the north side, from Hyde Road, in the midst of a dense artisan population, and, when its district is appropriated, will be taken out of the parish of St Mark’s, Gorton. The fabric, which occupies an area of 4,000 square yards, is mostly constructed of common bricks; the arcades, arches, window jambs and other features commonly constructed in stone are here formed with specially prepared moulded bricks from designs prepared by the architect. The design or phase of architecture adopted is that known as early geometrical pointed which came into use about the year 1245. The extreme length of the building from east to west is 135 feet by 58 feet wide from north to south. The nave and chancel are respectively 30 feet by 32 feet and 58 feet by 28 feet. The aisles are co-extensive with the nave and chancel, and are narrower than usual; the object being to afford the worshippers an uninterrupted view of the altar and officiating clergyman. At the east end of the chancel is a window of seven lights, 23 feet wide, having rich geometric tracing in its arched head, the chief feature of which is a large circle having tracery corresponding in character with the great wheel window at the west end Both of these windows are filled with rich stained glass by Messrs Ward and Hughes, the subjects of the east window illustrating in the lower portion passages in the life of At Benedict, and in the upper lights the great events in the life of our Saviour. The church contains 700 sittings, all of which are, according the deed of consecration, “free and open for ever.” The nave is seated with simple chairs, now so generally in use, and the chancel has been stalled in the usual way for the clergy and choir. The building has been erected from designs by Mr J S Crowther, under the superintendence of Mr E Dickson, clerk of the works. The contractors for the whole of the works, except some of the minor fittings, are Messrs Cordingley and Stopford. ….  The patronage of St Benedict’s is vested in the founder, Mr Alderman T Maitland Bennett* and his four sons, John Armitage Bennett, Maitland Armitage Bennett, Thomas Armitage Bennett and Samuel Armitage Bennett. [Manchester Guardian 22 March 1880 page 5]

* John Marsland Bennett

Reference    Building News 26 March 1880 page 384
Reference    Manchester Guardian 22 March 1880 page 5
Reference     Clair Hartwell. Manchester Forum 11 Autumn 1999