Church of St Thomas Wellington Road and Buckingham Road Heaton Chapel

The preliminary plans for a new church to replace the present church of St Thomas, Stockport Road (sic) Heaton Chapel, near Stockport, have received the approval of the church council and of the congregation. The sum of £2,000 was left by Mr Allen towards the cost of a new church on condition that work should begin within ten years of his wife’s death. The offer will lapse in January. Recently the advisory committee reported that the present church, which is 170 years old, was unsuitable, and urged that a start should be made at once with some portion of the new church. The approved plans have been submitted by Mr Bernard A Miller, of Liverpool. The plans, it is said, offer an excellent solution to the rather difficult problem of erecting the new church on the somewhat limited space available. [Manchester Guardian 9 August 1935 page 10]

A NEW CHURCH AT HEATON CHAPEL - Manchester, or rather the district, is to have another fine church by Bernard Miller, the young architect who rose to the front so quickly with his two Liverpool churches and whose monumental one at Withington promises to be equally distinguished, perhaps even more so with the whole of its east wall covered by a great Giotto-like scheme of decorative painting by Mary Adshead, the most interesting of all our young decorative painters. This second church when finished will completely replace the present one of St Thomas, Heaton Chapel, a rather sad Victorian structure which so depressed a Manchester architect named Allen, who worshipped there some years ago, that he left in his will a substantial legacy for its rebuilding – a fine and appropriate thing for an architect to do if he has the means, which is rarely the case. This legacy is now to be used first in building a new sanctuary, the present nave being retained for the time being. The next stage is to rebuild the nave, but at right angles to the present one and facing the sanctuary from the north instead of from the west. In this way the church can be completely rebuilt without the services being interrupted. When all this is done the site of the present nave, being consecrated land, will be used for outdoor services, an altar for them being part of the rebuilding scheme, as can be seen in the external view.

In order that the new sanctuary and altar may be used first from one direction and then from another at right angles to it, it is clear that both must be square structures on plan. The interior view shows the new sanctuary as a square lofty building with light pouring in from tall side windows. It is to have a concrete beamed ceiling and forms externally the tower which ends the simple vaulted nave. This consists of a great pointed vault in massive concrete, almost reaching to the ground. Mr Miller tells me he intends to leave the parallel lines of the boarding on which the concrete is set showing, and either to gild their edges or paint them in vermillion – a new but appropriate way of relieving a grey concrete surface. His vertical surfaces are to be in silver brick. All this is a detail, though an interesting one. The great effect is, as he shows on his drawing, the view from the vault of the nave into the lofty sunlit sanctuary with its wide spaces and tall vertical lines. It is a highly imaginative conception, exhibiting once moor the fine dramatic quality to be attained with concrete when handled by an artist. On the outside the most interesting things are the way the church mounts up from its low nave to its lofty sanctuary and then to its still loftier belfry and cross, and the arrangements Mr Miller has made for the outdoor services on the site of the old nave. [Manchester Guardian 22 October 1935 page 9 – Professor C H Reilly]

On Saturday, St Thomas’s Day, the Bishop of Manchester, Dr Guy Warman, laid the foundation stone of a new church to replace the existing building of St Thomas’s Heaton Chapel. The new church, which has been designed by Mr Bernard A Miller, a Liverpool architect, will be built largely of concrete. … Behind the decision to build the church is a clause in the will of a Stockport architect, Mr Allan, who worshipped at St Thomas’s, and was so depressed by its architecture that he left the sum of £2,000 towards the building of a new church on the condition that the work was begun within ten years of the death of his wife. This occurred in December 1926. [Manchester Guardian 23 December 1935 page 16]

Note      The rebuilding of the extension at the west end of the existing nave to form a “narthex” did not form part of this scheme. It was first proposed in 1958 but construction of a final smaller scheme with Lady Chapel was not commenced until 1960. This was dedicated on 22 October 1962.

In 1936 the Manchester Guardian published a design by Bernard Miller, captioned as being that for the new church of St Thomas Heaton Chapel [MG 17 July 1936 page 16] With separated campanile and pitched roof to the main building this scheme bears little relationship to that illustrated in October 1935 on which building work had commenced.

Two further plans were drawn up, and the contract was awarded to William Thorpe for £4,712. Additional work increased the cost (as seems normal with such schemes). The final cost of the work was £5,759. The builder seems to have experienced problems in obtaining payment and the debt continued for many years.

The Aumbrey (which is in the North wall of the Chancel) seems to have been inserted in 1939. The carved oak door which cost six pounds was designed by Bernard Miller. Two floor standing wooden candlesticks, painted silver, were reported to be the personal gift of Mr Mille.

The new choir stalls, pulpit and reading desk, in light oak, were by Shepherdsons of Stockport (removed after the 1980's to open up the chancel and enable the communion table to be brought well forward). The St Christopher emblem over the children’s corner was originally intended for the church of St Christopher at Withington, on which Mr Miller was also working, but was surplus to their requirements. Bernard Miller therefore offered it to St Thomas.

Reference    Manchester Guardian 9 August 1935 page 10
Reference    Manchester Guardian 22 October 1935 page 9 – Professor Reilly and illustrations
Reference    Manchester Guardian 23 December 1935 page 16
Reference    Builder 31 July 1936 Page 230
Reference    Stephen Shaw. History of St Thomas’s Church Heaton Chapel