About Us
We are an inclusive, gently catholic worshipping community, which sees worship as mission, committed to the well-being and safe-keeping of all God's people.*
Of the 12,300 or so parishes in The Church of England, there are only 47 lower placed than us in terms of multiple indices of deprivation. These challenges are typical of many 'post-industrial' parishes but more acute than most.
We continue the good work begun by the establishment of Newton Chapelry, by what is now Manchester Cathedral, in 1556. We have seen the British Empire and Industrial Revolution come and go, with all the challenges this brings for place so heavily reliant on industry until a few generations ago.
Our Patrons are the Dean and Canons of Manchester, and the Crown, by turn.
The Parish
Newton Heath is the birthplace of Manchester United which was formed in 1878 as Newton Heath LYR Football Club by the Carriage and Wagon department of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Heath. The railway depot remains, and light industry and manufacture continue within the parish boundary, somewhat scaled back since those halcyon days. High-tech has moved in thanks to EDM and the Sharp Project which is home to 60 or so pre-production, production and post-production companies; and three sound stages larger than Media City.
Our wider context
From June 2021 the Deanery of North Manchester ceased to exist; the the parishes within it have formed Mission Communities within the new Deanery of Manchester North and East. 20 deaneries became 7. Our new Deanery covers, broadly, the North and East of (the Metropolitan Borough of) Manchester, although we do dip in to Oldham and Stockport! We are within Mission Community 3 which is the old Deanery of Ardwick plus us.
The building
The present building, built by an Act of Parliament in 1814, replaced the original chapel and church of 1571 which fell down in 1808. The Rector continued to preach in its ruins so that he could receive his income from Tithes. The church building is Grade II listed, and on the At Risk Register maintained by Historic England. The perimeter railings (c 1815) have a separate Grade II listing. Sadly there are in a sorry state thanks to root movements of trees recently felled, and some sections are missing thanks to cars crashing into them.
The Rector
The Reverend Andrew Wickens, came to Manchester from the Diocese of Lincoln in October 2010.
He studied Theology at Durham and Cambridge Universities, and, more recently, Canon Law at the University of Cardiff. He is an Associate of The Royal College of Music (ARCM) in Singing Performance, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).
He was Minor Canon of Manchester Cathedral 2018-2021.
* Please see our Safeguarding Policy using the tabs to the left of this panel