The story merited just half a page in the Manchester Guardian on Thursday October 24 1946, and nearly 70 years later, here is the story which appeared under the headline An Old Manchester Church with two very sad looking pictures of the deteriorating former parish church.
“The old parish church of St Clement of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, which was closed by the Bishop of Manchester in 1940.
While the Manchester Diocesan Reorganisation Committee decides what is to be the future of the site and graveyard – the new church, only five hundred yards away was consecrated in 1866 - bands of hooligans and the elements are quickly turning it into a derelict ruin.
Windows have been broken, tombstones upturned, and the floor littered with brickbats and torn matting.
Such is the sad end of this eighteenth –century redbrick church, once the centre of a small village famous for its extensive orchards, and a noted picnicking place for Manchester holiday makers.
Among the tombstones, over grown with weeds and sadly neglected is a memorial erected by the citizens of Manchester to the Lancashire Constabulary to Constable Nicholas Cock, murdered a mile or so away on August 2, 1876, by the notorious Charles Peace.”
And within three years the decision had been taken to demolish the building, much to the regret of my old friend Marjorie Holmes who had worshipped there in the years up to its closure.
She remembered with sadness the beautiful large eastern window much knocked about by the vandals after the church closed, and the rubbish left strewn across the floor.
Today, those who remember the church when it was in its full glory are few and so it is timely to bring it back out of the shadows.
The story of the church and its successor which divided Chorlton appears in the book about the places of worship in Chorlton-cum-Hardy.
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| In happier days ..... 13 years earlier |
While the Manchester Diocesan Reorganisation Committee decides what is to be the future of the site and graveyard – the new church, only five hundred yards away was consecrated in 1866 - bands of hooligans and the elements are quickly turning it into a derelict ruin.
Windows have been broken, tombstones upturned, and the floor littered with brickbats and torn matting.
Such is the sad end of this eighteenth –century redbrick church, once the centre of a small village famous for its extensive orchards, and a noted picnicking place for Manchester holiday makers.
Among the tombstones, over grown with weeds and sadly neglected is a memorial erected by the citizens of Manchester to the Lancashire Constabulary to Constable Nicholas Cock, murdered a mile or so away on August 2, 1876, by the notorious Charles Peace.”
She remembered with sadness the beautiful large eastern window much knocked about by the vandals after the church closed, and the rubbish left strewn across the floor.
Today, those who remember the church when it was in its full glory are few and so it is timely to bring it back out of the shadows.
The story of the church and its successor which divided Chorlton appears in the book about the places of worship in Chorlton-cum-Hardy.
Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Picture; the parish church from the south, 1933, by F. Blyth, from A Short history of Chorlton-cum-Hardy by J.D. Blyth, 1933
Picture; the parish church from the south, 1933, by F. Blyth, from A Short history of Chorlton-cum-Hardy by J.D. Blyth, 1933
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