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About
us.........
St Margaret’s is a Christian community, dynamic, creative, inclusive of a
wide variety of viewpoints. We are people of global concern, striving
through education to develop alternatives to conflict and injustice. To do
this, we build local networks that make a difference.
We study and appreciate all forms of art and encourage people to use their
own talents.
Sunday Worship
St. Margaret’s is a beautiful place that offers space to
explore and worship the Divine through the Christian
tradition
Services
8.00 am Holy Communion
A quiet start to the day through a said traditional
service from the Book of Common Prayer.
10.30 am Morning Service
Sunday school is held at the same time.
St Margaret’s
Church
Rufford Rd. Whalley Range, M16 8AE
A village church in the inner city
Architect & Date
West End Alpha and Omega window
The church was built in 1848-9 to designs by James Park Harrison
who designed a number of churches between the early 1840’s and the
early 1860’s. His early churches were in southern England and
Whalley Range appears to be the first of a later group in Lancashire,
Cheshire and Shropshire. The steeple is a prominent feature of the
area.
The laying of the foundation stone was the first act of Bishop James
Prince Lee, the first Bishop of Manchester, and took place on 11
February 1848, after his enthronement that morning. The site had
been given by Samuel Brooks, a banker, who in 1936 had bought the
surrounding area for development from swampy moorland known as
Jackson’s Moss into a salubrious neighbourhood named after his
birthplace of Whalley. Brooks also gave £1000 towards the cost of
building the church. The cost was £6000 and the builders were
Locker and Newsham. The completed church was consecrated on 28
April 1849. The church was first restored in 1892 and the south
chancel was added in 1920 as a War Memorial. It cost £2000.
The window was originally installed in 1959 and is dedicated to the
memory of George Ferguson Mundell, elected as Warden of the
church in 1955.
The subject of the window is “Industry and the Church.” In designing
the window the artist has endeavoured to find an original approach.
He has sought to portray both the spiritual and material progress of
Civilisation and industry. At the head of the window God is
represented by the symbols A and O, Alpha and Omega, the Beginning
and the End of all Things.
The left hand panel indicates the Spirit of God moving in men’s hearts,
the giving of the law to Moses, the blessing of all young people by
Jesus, and finally St Paul’s Cathedral, a majestic symbol of Christian
Faith. In the right hand panel the artist has tried to show the material
progress of man’s achievements, from the Egyptian Pyramids down to
Modern Times, with particular emphasis on building and engineering.
Furnishings & Fittings
The east window of c. 1936 depicts The Crucifixion
The pulpit is of stone, octagonal, with a plain panel in each face carved
with a simple cross; it is a Second World War Memorial.
South chapel east: Christ with St. Mary Magdalene, c. 1920.
The lectern is an eagle of unusual size set in a big turned pedestal, all
of oak, carved by G.A. Vitty of Manchester
Stained glass:
South chapel I: St. Margaret, with the scene of her beheading in a
predella panel, by Edward Attwell
The font is of stone, octagonal, set in four quatrefoil shafts; the bowl
has plain carved panels.
South chapel II: A Soldier Crowned by Christ and A Soldier Attended
by Angels, in both cases the soldier clearly has the features of Lt.
Alfred Neal Hyde whom the window commemorates; probably by
Attwell, c. 1920.
The nave seating is of oak benches with oddly shaped backs with
moulded rails and organic leaves on the front edge of the ends.
South aisle II: The Ascension, 1894 by Clayton and Bell
The parclose screen to the Memorial Chapel is in glazed oak, c. 1920.
North aisle II: St. Mary and the Holy Child, with the shepherds and
men.
(Information from: The Buildings of England: Nikolaus Pevsner)