St Margaret's Church

The church was built in 1848-9 to designs by James Park Harrison who designed a number of churches between the early 1840’s & the early 1860’s. His early churches were in southern England and Whalley Range is the first of a later group in Lancashire.

The laying of the foundation stone was the first act of Bishop James Prince Lee, the first Bishop of Manchester, and took place on 11 February 1848, after his enthronement that morning. The site had been given by Samuel Brooks, a banker, who in 1836 had bought the surrounding area for development from swampy moorland known as Jackson’s Moss into a salubrious neighbourhood named after his birthplace of Whalley. Brooks also gave £1000 towards the cost of building the church. The cost was £6000 and the builders were Locker and Newsham. The completed church was consecrated on 28 April 1849. The church was first restored in 1892 and the south chancel was added in 1920 as a War Memorial. It cost £2000.

STAINED GLASS:
West End Alpha and Omega window
The window was originally installed in 1959 and is dedicated to the memory of George Ferguson Mundell, elected as Warden of the church in 1955.

The east window of c. 1936 depicts The Crucifixion
South chapel east: Christ with St. Mary Magdalene, c. 1920.
South chapel I: St. Margaret, with the scene of her beheading in a predella panel, by Edward Attwell
South chapel II: A Soldier Crowned by Christ and A Soldier Attended by Angels, in both cases the soldier clearly has the features of Lt. Alfred Neal Hyde whom the window commemorates; probably by Attwell, c. 1920.
South aisle II: The Ascension, 1894 by Clayton and Bell
North aisle II: St. Mary and the Holy Child, with the shepherds and men.

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The church was built in 1848-9 to designs by James Park Harrison who designed a number of churches between the early 1840’s & the early 1860’s. His early churches were in southern England and Whalley Range is the first of a later group in Lancashire.

The laying of the foundation stone was the first act of Bishop James Prince Lee, the first Bishop of Manchester, and took place on 11 February 1848, after his enthronement that morning. The site had been given by Samuel Brooks, a banker, who in 1836 had bought the surrounding area for development from swampy moorland known as Jackson’s Moss into a salubrious neighbourhood named after his birthplace of Whalley. Brooks also gave £1000 towards the cost of building the church. The cost was £6000 and the builders were Locker and Newsham. The completed church was consecrated on 28 April 1849. The church was first restored in 1892 and the south chancel was added in 1920 as a War Memorial. It cost £2000.

STAINED GLASS:
West End Alpha and Omega window
The window was originally installed in 1959 and is dedicated to the memory of George Ferguson Mundell, elected as Warden of the church in 1955.

The east window of c. 1936 depicts The Crucifixion
South chapel east: Christ with St. Mary Magdalene, c. 1920.
South chapel I: St. Margaret, with the scene of her beheading in a predella panel, by Edward Attwell
South chapel II: A Soldier Crowned by Christ and A Soldier Attended by Angels, in both cases the soldier clearly has the features of Lt. Alfred Neal Hyde whom the window commemorates; probably by Attwell, c. 1920.
South aisle II: The Ascension, 1894 by Clayton and Bell
North aisle II: St. Mary and the Holy Child, with the shepherds and men.

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