Christ Church, Bacup

Christ Church stands in Bacup, a town in Lancashire’s Rossendale valley. Built in 1854, it was paid for by James Heyworth, a local manufacturer, and designed by the Lancaster architects Sharpe and Paley. The church cost over £3,000 and seated five hundred worshippers. Its Gothic Revival style shows in the tower, aisles, porch and clerestory. A sandstone rubble exterior and slate roof give the building a solid, sombre look. The church closed in 2012 when its congregation moved to the Central Methodist Church. After twelve years empty, the Church of England sold it to GrowTraffic, a digital marketing agency led by Simon Dalley. Plans to turn it into a digital and technology centre were approved in April 2023. The Bishop of Manchester, Dr David Walker, said the project would bring jobs and shared community spaces. Visitors now enter a Grade II listed building whose interior still holds the stone reredos, pulpit and a pair of stained glass windows by Shrigley and Hunt. The tower’s stair turret rises above the parapet, and triple lancet windows light the chancel. Outside, the west front shows a wheel window above three two-light windows. Inside, the nave aisles and clerestory create a quiet, high-ceilinged space now used for digital businesses and community use.