Church of St. Paul Stalybridge

CHESHIRE - New Church at Stayley Bridge . - On February 2nd, the corner stone of this church was laid by Lord Viscount Combermere. Stayley church has been commenced upon a plot of land containing not less than five acres, statute measure, which has been most generously given for the purpose by the Right Hon. the Earl of Stamford and Warrington. The land fronts the turnpike road from Stayley Bridge to Huddersfield; and the nature of the substrata is such as to render it admirably adapted for interments. It is most beautifully situated, with reference to the delightful scenery of the surrounding country, which will render the church a conspicuous" and pleasing land‑mark. The church will be a Gothic edifice, in that style of architecture which prevailed towards the close of the thirteenth century, as beautifully exemplified in the cathedrals of Salisbury, Lincoln, and York, and also in Beverley minster. The leading features of the design are, a lofty nave in the centre, lighted from clerestory windows; with aisles on the sides, lighted by coupled lancet windows between the buttresses. The tower is placed at the west end of the nave, and it is in four stories, or compartments, in height. In the first story is placed the west entrance to the church, which consists of a bold recessed doorway, 6 feet wide, having moulded architraves round, and a hood mould over, terminating upon carved heads. In the second story of the west front is placed a two‑light window, with elegant tracery and appropriate hood mould, terminating upon grotesque heads. The next story is formed by panelling for clock‑dials on three sides of the tower. The last story is formed by two narrow lancet belfry windows, on each face of the tower, filled in with louvre slates, to keep out the weather, and to allow free egress for the sound of the bells. Each angle of the tower is flanked by double buttresses, in four stages, the two first terminating in double‑weathered offsets, and the two last in weathered canopies. Above the latter rise four octagonal turrets, with shafts at their angles, supporting canopies over their faces; the whole surmounted by lofty pinnacles, terminating in appropriate finials, the highest part of which will be 88 ft. above the ground‑line. The staircases to the galleries are placed on each side of the tower, and are lighted by lancet windows. The east end of the nave projects beyond the ends of the aisles, to form the chancel; the external angles being flanked with bold double buttresses, in one unbroken height, having large attached circular shafts at the angles, and terminating in large plain canopies; above these are placed two large octagonal turrets, having a rich corbel table round their upper parts, surmounted by lofty pinnacles, terminating in plain nobs as finials. The east end of the nave, or chancel, is pierced for a four‑light window, formed of rich and elegant tracery, similar to a part of the window in the east end of Lincoln Cathedral, and having an appropriate hood mould over the same, terminating upon carved heads.

The chancel is flanked by two small buildings, one of which forms the vestry or robing‑room, and the other a porch to the east entrance to the church. The east front of these buildings is pierced with small coupled lancet windows, having hood moulds, stopping upon carved bosses and the side fronts are pierced with doorways, having lancet heads and appropriate hood moulds.

The sides of the aisles are divided by buttresses into five compartments, with double buttresses at the external angles; each buttress is in two stages, the first terminating in a weathered set‑off, and the last in a weathered canopy. In each compartment are coupled lancet windows, with appropriate hood moulds, terminating upon grotesque beads. The upper part of the aisles finishes with a plain slope, as a cornice, over which rises the parapet, finishing with a moulded tablet or coping. The clerestory is divided into compartments by flat buttresses, ranging with those to the aisles; above which are a cornice and parapet, similar to what has been described to the aisles. The clerestory windows are in the form of spherical equilateral triangles, filled in with neat tracery; the authority for this description of window may be found in the upper part of the aisles to Westminster Abbey, and in the clerestory of Lichfield Cathedral, as well as in a few of our parochial churches in the west of England.

The whole of the church is to be built of stone, of a very hard and lasting quality, faced with neat hammer‑dressed walling, and having tooled ashlar dressings to all the doors, windows, etc. The extreme length of the building will be one hundred and two feet, and the width fifty-seven feet. The principal approach to the interior is through a porch, in the base of the tower, which communicates by arched openings on each side with the staircase to the galleries, and directly through folding doors with the ground floor. The church is divided into nave and aisles; the latter being separated from the former by five arched compartments on each side, supported on solid octagonal stone piers, with moulded capitals, from which spring the solid stone arches that support the clerestory walls, which are pierced for a window over each compartment. The east end of the nave, as before noticed, is continued beyond the end of the aisles, to form the chancel, the floor of which is raised two feet above the ground floor of the church. The west end of the nave is open, by a large archway, to the interior of the tower. The whole of the nave is to have a groined ceiling, with moulded ribs upon all the intersections of the vaulting, stopping upon moulded stone corbels affixed to the spandrel walls of the arches. These are to be galleries in the aisles, and at the west end of the nave. The interior will contain sittings for one thousand and six persons, three hundred and sixty of which are free. The greater portion of the free sittings are in pews, and not in open skeleton seats, as is usually the case in the government churches. There is, also, ample room for an organ of adequate size, without diminishing the number of sittings. The pulpit, reading and clerk's desks, are designed in strict accordance with the architecture of the church. The tower will hold a peal of bells, and there is ample room for a clock. There is, also, provision made for warming the building with hot water. It is expected that the church will be completed, and ready for the celebration of divine service, by March, 1839. The total cost of the building, including architect's commission, etc, will be about ,4,100. The cost of its erection will be defrayed by subscription, and it is to be built under the act of parliament passed in the first and second years of William IV. The architect is Mr R Tattersall of Fountain Street, Manchester. (Manchester Times, Feb. 10. 1838.) 

Reference    Manchester Times, 10 February. 1838.
Reference    Manchester Guardian 10 February 1838 - foundation stone
Reference    Manchester Guardian 2 October and 5 October 1839 page 1 - consecration notice
Reference    Manchester Guardian 19 October 1839 page 2 - consecration
Reference    Civil Engineer and Architects Journal Vol 1 page 173 - slightly abridged version
Reference    The Architectural Magazine. 1838.page 137
Reference    The British Almanac of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. For The Year of Our Lord 1840 page 235-237