Building Name

St Paul’s Church, Catlow Hall Street, Oswaldtwistle

Date
1882 - 1884
Street
Catlow Hall Street
District/Town
Oswaldtwistle, Hyndburn
County/Country
Lancashire, England
Work
New build
Status
Religious
Contractor
Mason: T. Clegg Carpenter: T. Abbott

In 1875 Robert Watson, the owner of Rhyddings Mill, donated a half-acre site within the grounds of his home The Rhyddings for a new permanent church and the foundation stone was laid by his wife on 16 September 1882. Designed to seat 800 and built of stone from the nearby Stanhill Quarry, the church was consecrated in 1884.

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, OSWALDTWISTLE - The Bishop of Manchester and Mrs. Fraser were present at the laying of the foundation stone of a new church for the parish of St. Paul's, Oswaldtwistle, on Saturday afternoon. The church is being erected to supplant an iron church at present in use for the St. Paul's congregation, and is estimated to cost £5,600, exclusive of the tower, spire, and boundary walls. The edifice, which will accommodate 800 worshippers, is being built on a plot of land given by Mr. R. Watson, manufacturer, whose wife laid the foundation stone, in the presence of about 4,000 spectators. [Manchester Weekly Times 23 September 1882 page 6]

The church, erected at a cost of £6,430, is an edifice of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel with aisles, nave, west and north porches and a small western turret containing one bell. [Kelly’s Directory of Lancashire 1905]

The church received a grant from ICBS. Records in Lambeth Palace Library include two printed circulars, printed subscription booklet with engraving of proposed church from NW, lithograph of new church from SE with ground plan, and Report, etc. (11pp.), 1887. Plans at Lambeth Palace Library: 3Ground plan (after work) Perspective (after work)

Reference        Manchester Weekly Times 23 September 1882 page 6 – foundation stone
Reference        Pevsner, North Lancashire
Reference        ICBS No. 8724