Church of the Holy Trinity, Stretford New Road, Hulme

LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE OF A NEW CHURCH IN HULME – Miss Eleanora Atherton of Kersall Cell, having recently contributed £10,000 towards the erection and endowment of a new church, the patronage of which is to be vested in the Dean and Canons of Manchester, they, in the exercise of their discretion, chose for its site a piece of ground immediately opposite the Chorlton Union Workhouse in Streford New Road. The edifice, which is to be called the Church of the Holy Trinity, will be 140 feet by 73 and will contain 1,600 sittings, a great portion of which will be free. The building will be in the early English style of architecture and the entire cost of its creation is estimated at £5,000. The architects are Messrs Scott and Moffatt of London; Messrs Lee Craven Lee and Holt of Todmorden are the builders. The ceremony of laying the foundation stone was performed on Thursday by the Hon and Very Rev the Dean of Manchester, as proxy for Miss Atherton, who, in consequence of her delicate health was unable to be present. [Manchester Guardian 8 December 1841 Page 2]

CONSECRATION OF HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, STRETFORD NEW ROAD – The new church, which has just been completed, called “the Holy Trinity” situate on the south side of Stretford New Road, immediately opposite the Chorlton Union Workhouse, was consecrated on Wednesday last by the Lord Bishop of Chester. The church has been founded and endowed by Miss Eleanora Atherton, of Kersall Cell, at a cost of £10,000; that sum having been placed by her at the disposal of the Dean and Canons of Manchester, the patrons of the church for that purpose. It has been erected from a design by Mess Scott and Moffatt, architects of London; and the first stone was laid on Thursday the 2ns of December 1841. The style of architecture is the early English, and the exterior presents a highly ornamental appearance. The western front is surmounted by a beautiful square tower, about 100 feet in height; and the buttresses of the church, twenty in number, are capped with small pinnacles. It is lighted principally by five large pointed windows on each side, and five smaller ones at the east end, the latter being richly ornamented with stained glass. There are no side galleries in the church; but a small gallery is erected at the west end, in which the organ is placed. A centre aisle and two side aisles extend along the body of the church. The seats are not pews, but open, like those of the continental churches. The external dimensions of the church are 140 feet by 73 feet; and we understand there are sittings for about 1,600 persons, a great proportion of which are free. The roof, the pillars and other parts of the interior, are exactly in keeping with the style of architecture that has been adopted; and the whole presents a somewhat imposing appearance. We understand the cost of completing the church has been upwards of £5,000. [Manchester Guardian 1 July 1843 page 4]

TESTIMONIAL TO MR EVANS – On Wednesday last Mr Evans, the builder of the Holy Trinity Church, Stretford New Road, attended at the Chapter House, Collegiate Church, where he was presented by the Dean and Chapter, in the name and on behalf of Miss Atherton (at whose sole cost the church was erected), with a very handsome silver cup, with a suitable inscription engraved thereon, as a token of satisfaction for the manner in which he had completed the erection of the sacred edifice. [Manchester Guardian 9 December 1843 page 4]

It would be unfair to criticise by the standard of the present day such a work as Holy Trinity, Hulme, built by Mr G. G. Scott so far back as 1843. It is an imposing First-Pointed structure, sumptuously carried out; and the interior is striking and solemn. The plan contains clerestoried nave with wooden roof, two aisles, transepts, and small apsidal chancel; and the effect is decidedly that of an urban church. The detail is far from satisfactory, but there is a mastery of style displayed in the design, which promised not untruly the future successes of its author. The arrangements are instructive. The sanctuary is properly fitted, and the altarCfar too small, by the wayCbears candles; there is some timid polychrome in the lower panels of the apse. The choir, a surpliced one, occupies stalls in a kind of chorus cant or um, advanced into the transept. The pulpit, of stone, on the north side, has been extended further west, rather clumsily, by another hand. A west gallery has also been added, not by the original architect, since the erection of the church. The seats are open. A wooden eagle serves for the lessons. There is a little armorial glass, of no great merit. This church, with all its faults, has an historical value in the progress of the ecclesiological revival. {Ecclesiologist 1857 page304]

Foundation    Foundation stone laid 2 December 1841
Consecration    28 June 1843
Closed         1953

Reference    Manchester Guardian 8 December 1841 Page 2 – foundation stone
Reference    Manchester Guardian 1 July 1843 page 4 - consecration
Reference    Manchester Guardian 9 December 1843 page 4 -Local and Provincial Intelligence