Besses United Reformed Church is designated a

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

building by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

. It is situated between Bury New Road and Bury Old Road at

Besses o' th' Barn Besses o' th' Barn () is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 10,664. It lies between Radcliffe and Prestwich. Besses o' th' Barn tram stop is on the electrified line ...

, an area of

Whitefield, Greater Manchester Whitefield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It lies on undulating ground above the Irwell Valley, along the south bank of the River Irwell, southeast of Bury, and northwest of Manchester. Prestwic ...

, England.

Origins

Besses United Reformed Church was built to serve the

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

denomination of

nonconformist Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to: Culture and society * Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior *Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity ** ...

Christians and was originally known as Besses Congregational Church. The United Kingdom Congregationalists and the

Presbyterian Church of England The Presbyterian Church of England was a late-19th century and 20th century Presbyterian denomination in England. The church's origins lay in the 1876 merger of the English congregations of the chiefly Scottish United Presbyterian Church with vario ...

merged in the 1970s to form the

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. Origins and history The United Reformed Church resulte ...

. The population of Besses o' th' Barn around the time of construction was approximately 8000 and, according to those involved with the church, "the means of spiritual instruction f that populationwas very scanty". The building is a bicentenary memorial erected to commemorate the secession from the established

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

in 1662.

The structure was designed in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style by

Alfred Waterhouse Alfred Waterhouse (19 July 1830 – 22 August 1905) was an English architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known f ...

. His design allowed for a chapel capable of holding 823 people, ancillary buildings such as the

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

, and a schoolroom on the upper storey. The latter measured by and was expected to accommodate between 500 and 600 children. The local school at that time had a roll of 200, of which 70-80 were adults. The

foundation stone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over time ...

was laid in 1863, when the projected cost of construction was £3700-£4000. Around three-quarters of that sum had been raised when construction began. £1000 was provided by the Lancashire Congregational Union, although it is uncertain whether that sum was included in the amount raised or was additional to it. Construction was completed in 1865. Services had been held since 1863 and until 1866 the congregation was closely associated with Stand Independent Chapel, whose minister, Alexander Anderson, provided pastoral care. This arrangement ended when a separate church was formed, and within two or three years the church was able to support itself without recourse to the Union.

Ministers

The early ministers were: *Alexander Anderson, until 1866 *Osric Copland, 1866–1869 *Llewellyn Porter, 1871–1877 *H. H. Richardson, 1877–1880

Listed building

The church was first

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

by English Heritage in January 1985. The short registry entry describes it as

References

Notes Citations {{Buildings and structures in Bury Alfred Waterhouse buildings Churches in Greater Manchester Gothic Revival church buildings in Greater Manchester Grade II listed churches in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury United Reformed churches in England Besses o' th' Barn