Now I have a fondness for St George’s Church in Hulme.
My old friend Jack Harker was christened there although I never asked him when.
That was the sort of question you never asked, partly because you were never sure what date he would give you and just because it never occurred to me.
So instead I shall focus on what G H Druffield said about the church in 1850.*
It was he said “a fine church [which] stands in the centre of a large piece of ground used for burials, situated in Chester-road, Hulme, exactly one mile from the Exchange.......... It has a lofty tower, surmounted with pinnacles; but like most churches in the town , it has no chancel.
The tower contains a fine bell, weighing about 23 cwt, and an excellent clock, by Whitehurst of Derby.
The foundation stone was laid September 7th, 1826, and the church consecrated December 9th, 1828.
The interior of the church is handsomely fitted up, there are three galleries; that at the west and contains a very fine organ by Renm, with nearly 1,100 pipes.
There is a splendid tablet to the memory of the late Colonel Molineaux, of the 8th Royal Irish Hussars; together with many others of less note. The cavalry regiments stationed at Hulme barracks which are nearly opposite.”
I wonder whether Colonel Molineaux’s tablet and the others of “less note" survived the church’s closure in 1984, its time as an empty shell and the conversion into flats in 2000 – 02.
Which just leaves me to thank Andy Robertson who took the pictures yesterday.
Location, Hulme, Manchester
Pictures; St Georges, 2016, from the collection of Andy Robertson
* G H Druffield, The Strangers Guide to Manchester, 1850
My old friend Jack Harker was christened there although I never asked him when.
That was the sort of question you never asked, partly because you were never sure what date he would give you and just because it never occurred to me.
It was he said “a fine church [which] stands in the centre of a large piece of ground used for burials, situated in Chester-road, Hulme, exactly one mile from the Exchange.......... It has a lofty tower, surmounted with pinnacles; but like most churches in the town , it has no chancel.
The tower contains a fine bell, weighing about 23 cwt, and an excellent clock, by Whitehurst of Derby.
The foundation stone was laid September 7th, 1826, and the church consecrated December 9th, 1828.
There is a splendid tablet to the memory of the late Colonel Molineaux, of the 8th Royal Irish Hussars; together with many others of less note. The cavalry regiments stationed at Hulme barracks which are nearly opposite.”
I wonder whether Colonel Molineaux’s tablet and the others of “less note" survived the church’s closure in 1984, its time as an empty shell and the conversion into flats in 2000 – 02.
Which just leaves me to thank Andy Robertson who took the pictures yesterday.
Location, Hulme, Manchester
Pictures; St Georges, 2016, from the collection of Andy Robertson
* G H Druffield, The Strangers Guide to Manchester, 1850
Love the picture of Hulme Church. I attended here from 1952_1961 my two youngest Brothers were Christened there I was in the Brownies until I was 11 and was part of the Pack that formed the 4th Hulme Guides With Miss Hilda Bird The Captain. Happy times I have been on the roof and in the celler /Cript?? Attended Church Parade in the Church on the 1st Sunday ever month.
ReplyDeleteIt was a beautiful church.
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