Now, ever since I discovered that the war memorial in the grounds of what was St Luke’s on Burton Road had come from another church which closed in 1929 I had been looking for a picture of that lost church.
It was called St Mary’s and was located on Queens Court Road on the corner with Palatine Road.
There was no reference to it in the Directories, although there was a school bearing the same name behind Barlow Moor Road.
Then as so often happens, someone came forward and offered up the answer, which in this case was Maureen Stephenson who responded to the original story with, "The following information is from Pam Siddon's booklet West Didsbury - A Walk on the West Side. Hopefully, it will solve the St. Mary's mystery.
On the opposite side of the St. Aidan’s United Reform Church, on Palatine Road was St. Mary's Church, which was demolished in 1929.
St. Mary's had been built in when the parishioners of St Luke's on Burton Road became very resentful at having to attend services there.
The road was badly lit, the pavements dirty and hardly anyone lived nearby.
In 1888 they held a meeting and agreed to build a temporary church on Palatine Road.
St. Mary's was a wooden structure of pitched pine with a corrugated iron roof which was always known as 'The Iron Church'.
The organist and choirmaster, Samuel Lamford, was the music critic of 'The Manchester Guardian'. (Andrew, the church may have been on the site of the present day Queens Court flats?)"
And having finally got its location I found it on the 1893 OS map for South Lancashire, and again on the 1933 OS, after which it was demolished and the complex of flats known as Queens Court was built.
But until now I lacked a picture, but that too has now been sorted, because a few days ago John Waterton posted a picture postcard of the church from the Wrench series and gave me permission to reuse it.
I don’t have a date, and although there is a serial number on the card, I have yet to locate a Wrench catalogue which would provide that date.
Still, for now it is enough that I can place the memorial beside its original church.
Location; Didsbury
Pictures; St Mary’s from a Wrench picture postcard courtesy of John Waterton, the war memorial 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Queens Court, 2020 from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento
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| St Maru's, date unknown |
There was no reference to it in the Directories, although there was a school bearing the same name behind Barlow Moor Road.
Then as so often happens, someone came forward and offered up the answer, which in this case was Maureen Stephenson who responded to the original story with, "The following information is from Pam Siddon's booklet West Didsbury - A Walk on the West Side. Hopefully, it will solve the St. Mary's mystery.
On the opposite side of the St. Aidan’s United Reform Church, on Palatine Road was St. Mary's Church, which was demolished in 1929.
 |
| St Mary's on Queens Court Road |
The road was badly lit, the pavements dirty and hardly anyone lived nearby.
In 1888 they held a meeting and agreed to build a temporary church on Palatine Road.
St. Mary's was a wooden structure of pitched pine with a corrugated iron roof which was always known as 'The Iron Church'.
The organist and choirmaster, Samuel Lamford, was the music critic of 'The Manchester Guardian'. (Andrew, the church may have been on the site of the present day Queens Court flats?)"
 |
| Queens Court |
But until now I lacked a picture, but that too has now been sorted, because a few days ago John Waterton posted a picture postcard of the church from the Wrench series and gave me permission to reuse it.
I don’t have a date, and although there is a serial number on the card, I have yet to locate a Wrench catalogue which would provide that date.
 |
| The War Memoriral, Northern Grove, 2017 |
Location; Didsbury
Pictures; St Mary’s from a Wrench picture postcard courtesy of John Waterton, the war memorial 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Queens Court, 2020 from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento
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