Church of St Mary, Rushcroft Road, High Crompton, Oldham (atrib)

• Opened            20 April 1872 under licence
• Consecrated     22 August 1878

A Church consecrated in 1878 and generally ascribed to the partnership of Wild and Collins. However, the church had been opened six years before, whereas the Wild and Collins partnership was only formed in 1876. A contemporary reference naming the architect has yet to be found. 

HIGH CROMPTON NEW CHURCH – This church, which has been built chiefly through the liberality of Mr Joseph Clegg and family, is intended to be opened for divine service on Saturday afternoon next. There will be three services the day after as well as one on Monday, the preacher on the latter occasion being the Lord Bishop of Manchester. One pleasing feature in connection with this church is that all the seats will be free and unappropriated, a system that seems to meet with general approval. As this is the first church to be built in High Crompton its opening is looked forward to with keen interest by the inhabitants. It is dedicated to St Mary. [Rochdale Observer 13 April 1872 page 7]

On Thursday the Lord Bishop of Manchester consecrated St Mary’s Church, High Crompton, near Oldham. In the course of his sermon the bishop said the church had been opened for some years past, and licensed by the bishop, and services had been held in it, but unless it was consecrated, it could not be recognised as a permanent addition to the churches of the Church of England, and a new parish could not be formed. The church was built by the munificence of one individual, who modestly did not wish his name to be specially mentioned. It had cost £4,000 and was built to accommodate 380 people. There were 112 communicants in the parish, and 372 scholars in the Sunday-school; while in the day school there was an attendance of 396. [Rochdale Times 17 August 1878 page 8]

High Crompton, 1 mile from Shaw station, was formed into an ecclesiastical parish July 9th, 1878. The church of St. Mary, erected in 1872 at a cost of £4,000, and standing north, and south, is a building of Yorkshire stone in the Early English style, and consists of chancel, nave, vestries, west porch and a turret at the south-west angle containing one bell: in 1885 the nave was extended northwards at a cost of £1,954: a stained chancel window was erected in 1886 to the late Joseph Clegg esq. the principal founder of the church, by his widow; the west window was filled with stained glass in 1897 at a cost of £332, as a memorial to John Travis Clegg esq. of West Hall, and there are others to the same family; the pulpit, of marble, elaborately carved, was presented by Mrs. J. T. Clegg, of West Hall: a brass lectern has been presented by the parishioners in memory of the late John Milne, who was the schoolmaster for 35 years and in 1893 an elaborate brass screen on a marble plinth was erected to the memory of Robert Fitton Clegg, of West Hall: Thomas Hague, of Shaw, left £100, and Joseph. Clegg esq., £300, for the repairs of the church: there are 550 sittings. The register dates from the year 1879. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £200, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop, of Manchester, and held since 1884 by the Rev. David Morgan, of St. Bees. The principal landowners are the trustees of John Travis Clegg esq. Abraham Clegg esq. James Wild Clegg esq. and Joseph Clegg esq. J.P. The area of the ecclesiastical parish is 426 acres; the population in 1901 was 1,693. — Kelly's Directory of Lancashire (1905)

Reference        Rochdale Observer 13 April 1872 page 7
Reference        Rochdale Times 17 August 1878 page 8
Reference        Kelly's Directory of Lancashire (1905)