Building Name

Congregational Chapel and Schools. Bollington

Date
1866 - 1867
Street
Palmerston Street and Beeston Brow
District/Town
Bollington
County/Country
Cheshire, England
Work
New build
Status
Partial demolition

BOLLINGTON NEAR MACCLESFIELD - The foundation stone has been laid here of a new Congregational chapel and schools. The chapel will seat 460 persons. The school, which will accommodate about 450 scholars on the upper floor, also includes on the ground floor an infants’ school, three large classrooms, a vestry and the usual conveniences. The school building is so planned as regards the chapel that should future circumstances require an addition, it might easily be made to the chapel in the form of a transept, thereby affording 300 additional sittings. The walls will be faced externally with Kerridge parpoints set in courses, and the masonry to the doors, windows, etc, will be executed in Hollington stone. The principal entrance to the chapel will be through an open recessed porch, accessible by a coupled pointed archway under a four light geometric window in the south gable. At the south-east angle of the building there will be a tower and spire 90 feet high. The architect is Mr W Williamson of Manchester and the style in which he has designed the building is Early Decorated. The contracts have been let separately to local tradesmen. All the wall stone for the exterior and also the pulpit have been presented by local gentlemen, exclusive of which the cost will be about £2,500, more than half of which has already been subscribed. This is the twenty-ninth of the thirty chapels to aid in the erection of which the Lancashire bicentenary committee was principally formed. [Builder 28 April 1866 page 312]

BOLLINGTON A new Congregational chapel has been opened at Bollington. The style is Early Decorated. The length is 65 feet 6 inches and the width 36 feet, and the building will seat 460 persons. The cost is about £2,800. Mr Williamson, of Manchester, was the architect. [Building News 6 December 1867 page 853].

BOLLINGTON - A new Congregational chapel has been opened here. The site is on the north side of the main thoroughfare, Great High-street, at the corner of Beeston Brow. Space has been reserved on which to erect a minister's house. Externally the building presents the appearance of a nave and transepts, the former being the chapel and the latter the school building, the whole being be planned that without any disturbance of the external walls, the transept may be added to the chapel whenever circumstances require its enlargement. The axis, or centre line of the building, forms a considerable angle to the line of street; bat owing to a bend in the latter, the south or front gable directly faces the spectator as he ascends Great High-street, whilst on approaching the village under the canal aqueduct a view is obtained of the west side, including the school gable and the tower and spire at the south-west angle. AH the external walls are faced with Kerridge parpoints, set in regular courses, the masonry of the quoins, jambs, buttresses, and other dressings being in Hollington stone. The front gable is terminated by a wrought-iron finial, and the spire has a weather-vane. The roof, which has a steep pitch, is covered with slating, formed to a geometrical pattern, in three varieties of tint. The chancel is internally 65 feet 6 inches by 36 feet wide, and including the small gallery at the end, opposite the pulpit, will seat 460 persons. It is lighted on each side by five double lancet-headed windows, glazed with cathedral tinted glass, having a coloured border. There is also a large geometrical window at the back of the gallery. Perhaps the main feature internally is the inner roof or ceiling, which is in the form of a pointed arch springing from the side walls, groined over the window heads, arid intersected by bold ribs, moulded in plaster. The seats are low, with slanting backs, and are without doors. The floor has a slight longitudinal rise from the communion. The school building is of two stories, and comprises on the ground-floor an infants' room, three or four class-rooms, and a minister's vestry, the upper story being in one large room, 57 ft. long, 25 ft. wide, and 25 ft. high, with an open- timbered roof. It is lighted on three sides, and will accommodate upwards of 400 scholars. The whole premises are heated by steam. The style is Early Decorated, according to the designs and superintendence of Mr. Williamson, architect, Manchester. The contracts have been undertaken by local tradesmen in separate portions, viz., masonry, Mr. Thomas Allman; wood-work, Mr. S. Handford; plumbing, etc, Mr. W. Hallowell; plastering, Mr. John Mellor. The total cost, exclusive of land, will be about £2,800. [Builder 23 November 1867 page 869]

The church closed in the early 1980s. The west end and two bays of the nave have been retained and converted to business use while the rear part has been demolished and replaced with three storey housing.

Reference    Builder 28 April 1866 page 312
Reference    Building News 6 December 1867 page 853
Reference    Builder 23 November 1867 page 869