St Peter's Church, Ashton-under-Lyne facts for kids

Quick facts for kids St Peter's Church, Ashton-under-Lyne
The Church of St Peter from the south
Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
OS grid reference	SJ 931 986
Location	Manchester Road, Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Churchmanship	Open evangelical
Website	St Peter, Ashton-under-Lyne
History
Status	Parish church
Dedication	Saint Peter
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Designated	12 January 1967
Architect(s)	Francis Goodwin
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1821
Completed	1824
Specifications
Materials	Stone, slate roof
Administration
Parish	The Good Shepherd, Ashton-under-Lyne
Deanery	Ashton-under-Lyne
Archdeaconry	Rochdale
Diocese	Manchester
Province	York

St Peter's Church is a beautiful old church located in Manchester Road, Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active Anglican church, which means it's part of the Church of England.

This church is one of five local churches that form the Parish of the Good Shepherd. St Peter's is a very important building. It is listed as a Grade II* building on the National Heritage List for England. This means it is a particularly special building that needs to be protected. It is also known as a "Commissioners' Church." This means it received money from a special fund to help build it. Experts describe it as a "large and ambitious" church. They also call it a "particularly imposing and elaborate" example of a Commissioners' Church.

History of St Peter's Church

St Peter's Church was built a long time ago, between 1821 and 1824. The person who designed it was an architect named Francis Goodwin. The church received a large grant of £13,191 to help with its construction. This was a huge amount of money back then!

The land for the church was given by George, the 6th Earl of Stamford and Warrington. His cousin, Sir George Booth, had been the Rector (a type of priest) of Ashton for many years before. St Peter's was the first of three churches that Goodwin designed for the Commission in the Manchester area.

In 1840, a clock was put into the church. Its face was at the east end, and the working parts were at the west end. They were connected by a long rod that ran through the church. Later, in the second half of the 1900s, the west end of the church was changed. A new section was built under the gallery.

Architecture of the Church

The church is built from ashlar stone, which is stone that has been carefully cut and shaped. It has a roof made of slate. The church's design includes a long main area called a nave with seven sections. At the east end, there's a vestry, which is like a room for the clergy, that acts as the chancel (the area around the altar).

Exterior Design

At the west end of the church, there is a tall tower. The tower has three main levels. It has strong supports called buttresses at its corners. These buttresses rise up to tall pillars topped with pointed decorations called pinnacles.

The tower has a main door on the west side. Above this door is a window with three sections. Higher up, you can see clock faces under small gables. In the very top part of the tower, there are pairs of open, pointed arches. These are where the bells ring out. The top edge of the tower, called the parapet, is also open and has decorative patterns.

Each section of the nave has a window with three lights (sections). These windows have a horizontal bar called a transom. The decorative patterns in the windows are made of cast iron and painted to look like stone. Between each window section, there are more buttresses that rise to pinnacles. The pinnacles at the corners of the church have small, hook-like decorations called crockets. At the east end of the church, there is a beautiful round window called a rose window. Above it, in the gable, is another clock face.

Inside the Church

Inside St Peter's Church, there are galleries on three sides. These are like balconies that provide more seating. They are supported by special cast iron columns that look like four-leaf clovers. The church originally had box pews, which are like enclosed seating areas. However, these and many other old furnishings have been removed over time.

The beautiful stained glass in the east rose window was made in the 1830s by David Evans. It shows the twelve apostles. On the north side of the church, there is a window from 1923 by W. Pointer. There are also three windows by Curtis, Ward and Hughes from the 1890s and 1901. The south side has windows by Lavers and Westlake.

The church has a large pipe organ with three keyboards. It was built in 1831 by Samuel Renn. It was later rebuilt in 1959 by J. J. Binns. The church also has a ring of eight bells. All of these bells were made in 1871 by Mears and Stainbank. They came from the Whitechapel Bell Foundry.

External Features

The churchyard (the area around the church) contains a war grave. This is the grave of a soldier from the Royal Garrison Artillery who died during World War I.

See also

• Grade II* listed buildings in Greater Manchester
• Listed buildings in Ashton-under-Lyne
• List of churches in Greater Manchester
• List of Commissioners' churches in Northeast and Northwest England
• List of works by Francis Goodwin