Church of St Werburgh Wilbraham Road Chorlton-cum-Hardy Manchester

ST WERBURGH - A new parish carved out of Holy innocents, Fallowfield, and Chorlton-cum-Hardy has been definitely arranged. It will be known as the parish of St. Werburgh. The church, when built, will be endowed with £150 a year. When the appointment of the first rector is made, steps will be taken with regard to the building operations. The church will be erected on a site off Wilbraham Road. Lord Egerton has granted an acre of land for the purpose. He has also promised a contribution of £1,000 towards the building. [Manchester Guardian 9 September 1898 page 7]

CHORLTON-CUM-HARDY - The comer stone of the new church of St Werburgh, Wilbraham road, Chorlton cum Hardy, was laid on Friday by Earl Egerton of Tatton. The new church is to be Gothic in style, and will be of brick, with terra-cotta dressings. Accommodation is to be provided for 500 worshippers, and the cost will be about £5,000. The architect is Mr R Bassnett Preston, and the contractor Mr. R. Carlyle, Ardwick. [Building News 6 October 1899 page 438]

At the time of the stone-laying ceremony completion of the building was anticipated by the end of June 1900, but it was to be another two years before formal consecration. In a report on new architecture in Manchester a critic in the Manchester Guardian noted:

There would be more churches to notice were it not that a "tin tabernacle” so often acts as locum tenens for a brick or stone building. There is the easterly portion of a church in the Wilbraham Road, south of Manchester. It looks fairly church-like, and there is absence of vulgarity. In St Werburgh’s brick and terra cotta are mainly: used, and the effect would have been better if the red brick and terra cotta had been brighter. This church has the fault, common to so many such buildings, of being a rather commonplace stone design carried out in plastic materials. It adds much to the interest and artistic value if the materials are allowed to rule, or at least to influence the design. [Manchester Guardian 6 May 1901 page 10]

Foundation      Stone laid 29 September 1899 by Lord Egerton
Consecrated    15 July 1902 by Bishop Moorhouse, D.D.

Reference    Manchester Guardian 9 September 1898 page 7
Reference    Building News 6 October 1899 Page 438
Reference    Manchester Guardian 30 September 1899 page 10 – foundation stone
Reference    Pevsner: Lancashire: South