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| Stayley School seems to have been the first Anglican organisation in the area now covered by St Paul's parish. The first Vicar of St Paul's found that they had applied to the (Anglican) National Society for a grant, but never took it up. Supporters of Stayley School later transferred their support to St James Millbrook. A contemporary writer noted: Outside the town itself at Buckton Vale there was Staley School built by public donation in 1816. When James Butterworth wrote about "a stone erection used as a Sunday and Day School" in 1827 the Master was a Mr G W Barlow, a gentleman "notorious for his attachment to the science of Astronomy and its concomitants, the occult sciences". Locally, it was known as Barlow's School. Butterworth, James. History of the towns and parishes of Stockport etc. 1827 |
| Stalybridge Improvement Act; "An Act for lighting, watching and otherwise
improving the Town of Stalybridge, in the Counties Palatine of Lancaster and
Chester, and for regulating the Police thereof; and for establishing and regulating
a Market and erecting a Market Place within the said Town" |
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| William Worth Hoare - who would be the first Vicar of St Paul's - ordained at
a service at Limerick Cathedral |
May - First meeting of the
Building Committeeat the Eagle Inn. 9 May 1835. The members of the Committee were thirteen of the leading citizens of the town. By 1836 the Committee had over a hundred subscribers to the project, promising close to £4000.
In April 1836, the Earl of Stamford donated land as the site for the new church.
Invitations to provide designs for the building were sent out indicating that the church should provide seating for 1100 to 1200 and should not cost more than £3800. |
| Manchester Statistical Society Report on
The condition of the working classes in an extensive manufacturing district.
They found that the members of the Established church amount,......in Ashton,
Dukinfield, and Stalybridge, to only 26 per cent, or little more than one fourth. |
| February
- Laying of the foundation stone by
Viscount Combermere. 2 February 1838 |
| The architect of the new church was
Richard Tattersall of Manchester. Tattersall worked mainly in the Manchester
area and had previously designed Old Chapel, Dukinfield. |
October
- Consecration of the church- 9 October 1839. Before the arrival of
the first Vicar, services were conducted by
Rev. Joseph SavilIe Evans, a resident of Stalybridge, who with his
sisters took an active part in the formation of the parish.
"On Wednesday afternoon, this neat edifice, which has been recently erected, ….. was
duly consecrated by the Lord Bishop of Chester. Shortly before 3 o'clock his
lordship commenced the ceremony by perambulating the aisles, reading the appointed
psalms; the Rev. W. Johnson,Vicar of Mottram, then went to the reading desk and read
prayers; after which the Bishop ascended the pulpit, and preached an appropriate sermon.
The church was crowded in every part, and amongst the congregation we noticed Lord
Combermere, Captain Clarke, of Hyde, Abel Harrison, Esq., and David Harrison, Esq., of
Stalybridge, Ralph Ousey, Esq.,Edmund Buckley, Esq., of Manchester, &c. &c. The
collection amounted to the munificent sum of £200. We understand that the Earl of
Stamford and Warrington, in addition to the five acres occupied by the church and burial
ground, has generously given 10,000 yards of land, on which to erect a school and
parsonage house."
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Saturday 12 October 1839
|
 Left - The church in 1839 before the addition of the north and south transepts
later in the century. |
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Tenor bellplaced in tower - provided by public subscription. |
 November
- Rev. William Worth Hoaree, MA, late curate of Christ Church, Cork
"has been unanimously appointed by the trustees to the incumbency of St Paul's,
Stalybridge" - November 1839 |
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January - Mr. Hoare preached his
first sermons on Sunday, January 12th, 1840, taking the same text both
morning and afternoon, II Cor. iv., 5 : We preach not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants, for Jesus' sake." |
| June
- Charity Sermons On Sunday last (07/06/1840) two sermons were preached
at St. Paul's Church Stalybridge, by the Very Rev. the Dean of Achonry
on behalf of the Sunday schools connected with that church. The collections
after the sermons exceeded £50. ... The afternoon sermon contained a clear
and able refutation of the doctrines of the Oxford Tracts.
Manchester Guardian 10 June 1840.- The Dean was Hoare's brother. |
|
Sunday Schoolestablished in cottage in Bower Row, Demesne Street |
| First hymn book used at St Paul's:
Hymns used in St George's Chapel and St Paul's Church, Stalybridge
published in 1840 in Stalybridge. |
|
Day and Sunday Schools built. |
| March - Meeting of the Church Missionary Society in the Town Hall with Rev W W Hoare in the chair. |
| December - First annual tea party for the teachers and friends of St Paul's Sunday School
held at the Town Hall on Christmas Day. The church already had an "excellent
choir" to help with the entertainment |
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April - The church acquires an organ, when James Wilkinson of Brookfield House, Stalybridge presented the church with one built by William Hill of London at a cost of £360 excepting carriage. James Wilkinson offered the organ on condition that the church raised sufficient funds for a Vicarage and Church Clock. It was a modest two-manual instrument in a general swell box, which would have been hand blown,and was to be situated on the West Gallery.The
organ was first used in April 1844.
In 1851 the Earl of Stamford generously gave a plot of land in Richmond Street on which six houses were built with the aid of a mortgage which was repaid in full in 1866. The rent for each house at the time was nine pounds per annum and the net proceeds were to pay for an organist and choir. |
| The
"Clock Houses"Huddersfield Road. This centre house was erected
by Christina Adshead, of Acres Bank, as an endowment for the clock given by
the seventh Countess of Stamford to St Paul's Church. The other four houses
were erected by subscription as an endowment for the bells of the same church.
1846. |
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| February - Sermon preached in favour of the "Distressed Irish" raises £132 |
|
A branch school built in Millbrook services were held there
each Sunday evening |
April - On the evening of Good Friday the choir of St. Paul's Church, Stalybridge, gave a selection of sacred music in the School room belonging to the Church. The first part consisted of a selection from Haydn's Oratorio, The Creation,- the second part comprised the whole of the First Part of Handel's Oratorio, The Messiah.- Mr D. Oldham presided at the organ, and Mr. R. Bates at the piano forte.
August - Part of the parish was transferred to form part
of the new parish of Friezland: Christ Church (in the
diocese of Manchester)
September 27 - Provinicial Grand Meeting of the Cheshire
Freemasons held in St Paul's School and also a service in St Paul's
Church. |
| June - Whitsuntide railway trips: St Paul's Stalybridge from Stalybridge to Pontefract 620 passengers. |
September
- Bazaar in aid of St Paul's National Schools at Stalybridge and Millbrook
September 1849. St Paul's, like many churches, was closely involved
with education for much of its history - especially in the time before universal
primary education became the norm. This meant that considerable effort was
spent on fund raising for the schools in the parish. The school at Millbrook
was opened in 1848 and licensed for divine service in 1849 after which services
were held there each Sunday evening.
The Bazaar raised nearly £500 - this may have had the puchasing power of
£33,680 by 1998! |
