St George's Church, Stalybridge

St George’s Church stands in Church Walk, Stalybridge, beside the River Tame where it once formed the main crossing. It is an active Anglican parish church built in stone with a slate roof and a tall west tower in three stages. The tower has corner buttresses that rise to pinnacles and the nave has seven bays with north and south aisles under one roof. A small single-bay chancel sits at the east end and thin lancet windows with Geometrical tracery light the interior. The church was designed by Edmund Sharpe, a Lancaster architect, and completed in 1840. The church is worth the journey because it was one of the Commissioners’ churches, receiving a grant of £2,712 from the Church Building Commission. When it opened it seated 1,022 people and cost £4,012 to build, a large sum for its time. The foundation stone was laid in 1838 by Lord Viscount Combermere, a former Grand Master of the local Masonic Lodge. For a time two St George’s churches operated side by side after the old chapel was kept in use. Tension between the congregations lasted until 1847 when the incumbent of the new church died suddenly. Inside, the arcades rest on octagonal piers and the alabaster font takes the form of an angel holding a shell. The stained glass is by Lightfoot and the three-manual organ was built by Renn & Wadsworth. In 1881 the north and south galleries were removed, and in 1976 the interior was divided by a brick wall. The eastern part continued as a church while the western part was adapted for parochial, social, educational and recreational use. The church remains a Grade II listed building on the National Heritage List for England.