St Jude, Mill Street, Ancoats
The first St Jude's Church was a former Tent Methodist chapel, purchased for the Church of England in 1837 by Robert Gardner, with sittings for 1400, and consecrated on 14 April 1842. This church was eventually replaced by a new church, designed by John Lowe, and opened in 1866. Although Rev. O'Leary, the first incumbent, was said to have attracted a large and wealthy congregation, the church was situated in one of the poorest working class districts of the city and was increasingly a post which required unremitting and often unrewarded effort from the priest. Identified as an active and successful evangelical parish in the early 1880s. The district in 1841 had a population of about 13,000, and in 1861 it was serving a similar number. By the end of the Victorian period, as a result of divisions and then central depopulation, the population had fallen to around 6000. In the early 1860s the parish possessed a large and successful Sunday school. The day schools, with about 200 children, were destroyed by fire in 1892. The parish was eventually subsumed into the large parish of the Church of the Apostles, built on the site of St Philip's, Bradford Road, and encompassing St Peter's, St Martin's, St James‑the‑Less, St Mark's, Holland‑street, as well as St Jude's.
ANCOATS, MANCHESTER - The consecration of St Jude’s Church, which is situate at the junction of Kirby and Mill Streets, Ancoats took place on the 14th inst. The church is in the Early Decorated style, cruciform in plan, with tower and spire at the corner of Mill and Kirby Streets. There are four entrances - two to the south one to the east and one to the north. The nave roof is in one span, intersected at the transepts by bold groin principals. The chancel is approached by three steps. The stalls are of red deal, simply varnished. The floor is paved with Maw’s encaustic tiles. To the west of the chancel is the organ chamber, communicating with the chancel and nave through pointed arches. To the east is the vestry. The chancel is lighted by a large circular traceried window, filled with grisaille glass by Messes Lavers and Barraud, and by two pointed windows at either side filled in with cathedral glass. The transept gables are pierced by circular traceried windows above and coupled pointed windows below. The nave gable is pierced by a large five light window and the side walls have two light windows. The exterior of the church is of seconds bricks, with the arches of the doors and windows in red white and blue Staffordshire stock bricks. The arches have been so designed as to present a different arrangement of colour from various points of view. The tower is divided into three stages: in the upper is the belfry, with shafted traceried openings filled in with slate louvres. The spire is banded with stone and blue bricks, and terminated with a gilt finial, giving a height from the ground of 120 feet. The roofs are covered with slates arranged in coloured bands, and furnished with ornamental cresting. The windows are filled in with quarried cathedral glass by Messrs Edmundson and Son of Manchester. The artificial lighting is by coronae standards and brackets. The general contractor for the building was Mr James Lucas. The masonry was done by Messrs Ellis and Hinchcliff. The church will accommodate 987 persons - the south and transept galleries holding 295; 504 of the sittings are free. The cost of the edifice including the enclosure walls and fittings is £5,000 and site £1,250. The building has been erected from the designs and under the superintendence of Mr John Lowe, architect of Manchester. [Builder 28 April 1866 page 312]
Reference Manchester Guardian Monday 4 July 1864 Page 3 Column 2
Reference Builder 23 July 1864 Page 550 - foundation stone
Reference Builder 28 April 1866 page 312 - consecration
Reference Manchester Guardian 16 April 1866 page 2 - consecration
Reference Builder 28 April 1866 Page 312
Reference Dobb, Like a Mighty Tortoise;
Image, Manchester Diocesan Churchman, II.2 Feb 1881