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User:Cnbrb/sandbox/St Peter's Church, Manchester

Coordinates: 53°28′40″N 2°14′37″W / 53.47778°N 2.24361°W / 53.47778; -2.24361
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black and white photograph St Peter's Church in St Peter's Square
St Peter's Church in St Peter's Square
Map
53°28′40″N 2°14′37″W / 53.47778°N 2.24361°W / 53.47778; -2.24361
CountryKingdom of Great Britain
DenominationChurch of England
History
StatusParish church
DedicationSaint Peter
Consecrated1794
Architecture
Architect(s)James Wyatt
StyleNeoclassical Doric
Groundbreaking11 December 1788 (1788-12-11)
Demolished1907

St Peter's Church was a Church of England church in the City of Manchester in the historic county of Lancashire (now Greater Manchester), in the Kingdom of Great Britain. It was designed in a Neoclassical style by the English architect James Wyatt and opened in 1794. The church closed due to a dwindling congregation and it was demolished in 1907. Today its location is marked by a tall stone cross in St Peter's Square.

History

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Around the 1780s, Manchester's population was beginning to grow, and as the Industrial Revolution increased prosperity, there was a growth in church building in the town. St Peter's Church was established to provide a place of Christian worship for the town's expanding population. The Manchester Mercury of 9 December 1788 recorded: "We hear that the first stone of an intended new church in this town, to be called St, Peter's will be laid on Thursday next. The building is to be executed in stone after designs drawn by James Wyatt, Esq., of London, and wholly conducted under the direction of that eminent architect. There is therefore every reason to expect that this church, when completed will prove in a high degree commodious as a place of public worship and ornamental as an elegant structure."[1]

The church's first incumbent was the Rev Samuel Hall, a curate of St Ann's Church, Manchester, who lived in one of the first houses to be built on the new Oxford Road (later Oxford Street).[2] St Peter's was built for him after he had failed to secure a position at Manchester Collegiate Church.[3] The foundation stone was laid on 11 December 1788 and bore the inscription:[4][5]

At the time of its construction, St Peter's was bounded by countryside on its south, west and east sides, with open fields running down to the River Medlock. By 1801, a public square had been formed around the church, St Peter’s Square, and Oxford Street and Peter Street had been laid out, although Lower Mosley street was still unnamed track through fields to the south.[1]

St. Peter's Church was consecrated on Saturday 6 September 1794 by the Bishop of Chester, William Cleaver. The essayist Thomas De Quincey had been a pupil of Rev Hall, and as a young boy, he was among the parishioners as a young boy at the consecration. He later recalled attending the ceremony in his 1821 article, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater:[1][6][3][7]

When I must have been nearing my tenth year, and when St. Peter's had been finished, occurred the opening, and, consequently (as an indispensable pre-condition), the consecration of that edifice by the bishop of the diocese (viz.. Chester). I, as a ward of the incumbent, was naturally amongst those specially invited to the festival.

— Thomas De Quincey, 'Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821)

From its inception, the church attracted the wealthy townsfolk; Canon C. W. Bardsley wrote that the church "became at once the shrine to which the fashionable sinners of Mosley Street and Piccadilly turned their steps one day in seven." The church developed a strong musical tradition, and the inclusion of music in worship "made St Peter's the haunt of all the frequenters of the Assembly Rooms and fashionable idlers of the town. It was place of resort rather than a temple of worship."[1]

An organ installed in the church was the largest in England at the time, with 3728 pipes. A copy of this instrument was subsequently installed in the Free Trade Hall, later destroyed in 1940 during the Manchester Blitz.[8]

In 1819, the open fields to the west, now known as St Peter's Field, was the site of the Peterloo Massacre, when army forces attacked a crowd of protestors demanding Parliamentary reform. Thus, St Peter's Church gave its name to one of the most prominent violent events in British political history.[9][3]




[5] [8] [9] [4]


Architecture

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Wayatt's Doric portico on the north-east side of St Peter's Church, facing Mosley Street

The architect James Wyatt was commissioned to build the church. He designed it in a Neoclassical Doric order Greek Revival style, built of Runcorn sandstone. The church was oriented in a north-south alignment, and at the northern end was a portico supported by Doric columns. When the church opened, it lacked any sort of steeple. Wyatt's original intention was to erect a dome, in keeping with his Doric Order design, but this scheme was rejected in favour of a bell tower, erected in 1824 by the architect Francis Goodwin.[4][8][7]


The interior of the church was said to be dark on account of the high windows.

Writing in 1804, the writer Joseph Aston praised Wyatt's design, commenting, "The portico, which terminates the prospect down Dawson Street and Mosley Street, is very fine; and if it was not fixed on too low a site, by which means only one half of the building is seen from Lever Row, it might almost be pronounced faultless. With this drawback it will command admiration whilst a taste for the fine arts is cultivated in this country." Aston described the interior as having a calming acoustic, a mahogany pulpit and crimson cushions in the pews. He also describes a painting hanging above the communion table as a work by the Italian Barqoque artist Annibale Carracci, The Descent from the Cross (c.1580–1600). This painting had been purchased in Italy by one of the churchwardens of St Peter’s.[7][4]

De Quincey recorded some of the architectural detail of the building. While Wyatt's Grecian style was generally austere, a decorative ceiling mould attracted some controversy at a time when Puritan sentiments rejected adornment in religious buildings. De Quincey recalled the consecration ceremony and the fear of disapproval from the Bishop of Chester:[1][6]

I remember a little incident which exposed broadly the conflict of feelings inherited by the Church of England from the Puritans of the 17th century. The architecture of the church Grecian: and certainly, the enrichments, inside or outside, were few enough, neither florid nor obtrusive. But in the centre of the ceiling, for the sake of breaking the monotony of so large a blank white surface, there was moulded, in plaster of Paris, a large tablet or shield, charged with a cornucopia of fruits and flowers. And yet, when we were all assembled in the vestry waiting—rector, churchwardens. Architect, and trains of dependents — there arose deep buzz of anxiety, which soon ripened into an articulate expression of fear, that the bishop would think himself bound, like the horrid eikonoclasts of 1643, to issue his decree of utter averruncation to the simple decoration overhead. Fearfully did we all tread the little aisles in the procession of the prelate. Earnestly my lord looked upwards: but finally — were it courtesy, or doubtfulness to hie ground, or approbation —he passed on.

— Thomas De Quincey, 'Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821)

Although the church found favour with Bishop Cleaver, a successor, Bishop George Henry Law was outspoken in his criticism of Wyatt's architectural style, the quality of the interior fittings, and the wealthy congregation:[1]

"a more correct ecclesiastical taste would describe the church as very hideous and ill- arranged, so far as worship was the object for which it was erected. The pulpit is of mahogany and formerly had what is called a sounding-board, an arrangement the benefit of which has long been questioned. The church was not meant for the poor, but for those who could pay highly for their seats, and the congregation was gathered from all parts."

— Bishop Law

Closure and demolition

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Carracci's Descent from the Cross painting now hangs in St Ann's Church
Columns salvaged from St Peter's Church are now in the courtyard of the Gaskell Memorial Tower in Knutsford

By the turn of the 20th century, social change in Manchester – by now a major city – had resulted in a dwindling residential population, as most of the wealthy parishioners had moved out to the fashionable suburbs. The 1901 census showed that the total population of the parish was just 393. The decision was made to close St Peter's Church, and the last service there was held on Sunday 26 August 1906, after 111 years. The land was sold to the Manchester Corporation for £20,000.[1]

Work began in 1907 to pull down the church. During the demolition work, contractors found encased in lead the brass foundation stone along with a number of coins hidden in the external wall beneath the east window of the church.[1] Various items were salvaged from the site to be repurposed elsewhere. Carracci's Descent from the Cross painting was removed and now hangs in nearby St Ann's Church.[10] The large organ was dismantled and removed St Bride's Church, Old Trafford. This church was has since been demolished and the organ was put in storage in a warehouse in Lincolnshire; its whereabout are now unknown.[8][3] A pair of Wyatt's Doric columns were saved from destruction by the designer Richard Harding Watt, who incorporated them into the Gaskell Memorial Tower and King's Coffee House in Knutsford, Cheshire.[1][11][12]

After the site had been cleared, the former location of St Peter's Church was marked by a Gothic-style Portland stone cross designed by Temple Moore, mounted on a hexagonal plinth and adorned with carved angels bearing the cross keys emblem of St Peter.[13] In the aftermath of World War I, a war memorial was commissioned and it was decided to locate it in St Peter's Square. The Manchester Cenotaph, designed by Edwin Lutyens, was erected in 1924 next to the St Peter's cross, and in 1949, the site was laid out with a garden designed by Leonard Cecil Howitt.[14][9]

The burial vaults of the church were left intact and remain beneath St Peter's Square today.[8][9] Among the burials is that of a local magistrate Hugh Hornby Birley, noted for his involvement in leading the assault in the Peterloo Massacre in 1819.[15] In 1992, the Manchester Metrolink tram system began operation, and the new line passed through St Peter's Square, close to the site of the former church. When the network was expanded, the square was re-ordered in 2014 to accommodate additional lines and new platforms at St Peter's Square tram stop, During these works, the Cenotaph was re-located on the other side of the square and tram lines were laid over the site of the former church. To protect the underground crypt, concrete slabs were placed over it before the tram tracks were laid.[16][17][12] The St Peter’s Cross was restored and re-erected close to its original location above the crypt, in between the Metrolink tracks, and was re-dedicated by the Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, on 15 February 2017.[18]

  • The church site after 1907
  • St Peter's Cross by Temple Moore (1907) marks the former site of the church
    St Peter's Cross by Temple Moore (1907) marks the former site of the church
  • Between 1907 and 2014, the Cenotaph was located on site of the church, next to the St Peter's Cross
    Between 1907 and 2014, the Cenotaph was located on site of the church, next to the St Peter's Cross
  • In 2014, the Cenotaph was relocated and the church burial vaults were reinforced
    In 2014, the Cenotaph was relocated and the church burial vaults were reinforced
  • Today, tram tracks cross the site of the church
    Today, tram tracks cross the site of the church

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Darlington, Neil. "Architects of Greater Manchester: St Peter's Church, St Peter's Square, Manchester". manchestervictorianarchitects.org.uk. The Victorian Society. Archived from the original on 29 October 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  2. ^ de Quincey 1889.
  3. ^ a b c d Krieger 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d Cornish 1857.
  5. ^ a b Aston 1804.
  6. ^ a b de Quincey 1862.
  7. ^ a b c Heywood 1874.
  8. ^ a b c d e Parkinson-Bailey 2000.
  9. ^ a b c d Dickens 2015.
  10. ^ "History". stannsmanchester.com. St Ann's Church, Manchester. Archived from the original on 21 April 2024. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  11. ^ Hartwell et al. 2011, p. 424.
  12. ^ a b "Greater Manchester's Past Revealed Life and DEath in Manchester - Excavations along the Second City Crossing" (PDF). Greater Manchester Archaeology Federation. pp. 7–15. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2024. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  13. ^ Historic England. "Memorial Cross, St Peter's Square". National Heritage List for England.
  14. ^ Hartwell 2002, p. 202.
  15. ^ "Hugh Hornby Birley". www.gracesguide.co.uk. Grace's Guide. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  16. ^ Cox, Charlotte (16 July 2015). "Experts uncover 270 bodies as part of Cross Street Metrolink works". Manchester Evening News. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  17. ^ "Unearthing Manchester's hidden crypt and secret cemetery". BBC News. 27 January 2015. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  18. ^ Heath, Helen (15 February 2017). "Bishop of Manchester rededicates cross in St Peter's square - The Northern Quota". The Northern Quota - Latest news from Manchester. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 10 November 2024.


Sources

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cnbrb/sandbox/St Peter's Church, Manchester.



Peter Peter Peter Category:Churches completed in 1794 Category:18th-century Church of England church buildings Category:Neoclassical church buildings in England Manchester Category:Buildings and structures destroyed in 1907 Category:Former churches in Greater Manchester

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