St George's Church is on Church Street, Hyde,

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

, England. It is an active

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in the deanery of Mottram, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield, and the

diocese of Chester The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York covering the pre-1974 county of Cheshire and therefore including the Wirral and parts of Stockport, Trafford and Tameside. History Ancient diocese Before the si ...

. The church is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a designated Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. It was a

Commissioners' church A Commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church and Million Act church, is an Anglicanism, Anglican church in England or Wales built with money voted by Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliament as a result of the (58 Geo. 3. ...

, having received a grant towards its construction from the Church Building Commission.

History

St George's was built in 1831–32 to a design by T. W. and C. Atkinson. A grant of £4,788 () was given towards its construction by the Church Building Commission. It was originally a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

St Mary's Church, Stockport St Mary's Church is the oldest parish church in the town of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. It stands in Churchgate overlooking the market place. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade ...

. It became a parish church in 1842, with its

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

initially being the whole

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

of Hyde. A shallow

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

was added in 1882–83. The interior of the church was remodelled in 1885, the

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

being moved from its previous central position, the seating was changed, and the organ was relocated. Considerable damage was done to the structure and furnishings of the church in the 1980s by

dry rot Dry rot is wood decay caused by one of several species of fungi that digest parts of wood which give it strength and stiffness. It was previously used to describe any decay of cured wood in ships and buildings by a fungus which resulted in a ...

Architecture

The church is constructed in stone with a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

roof. Its architectural style is

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

. The plan consists of a seven-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

with north and south

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

s, a single-bay chancel, and a west tower. The tower is in three stages and contains a west door above which is a four-light window. The middle stage contains circular clock faces, and in the upper stage are two-light bell openings. At the top of the tower is a coped

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

. On the corners of the tower, and at the corners of the body of the church, are octagonal columns rising to form

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was main ...

s. Along the sides of the church are

lancet windows A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

. The east window has five lights. On the wall of the south aisle is a

sundial A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...

. In 1838 a two- manual

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

by Samuel Renn was installed. This was rebuilt in 1912 by Ravensdale of

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

, but is no longer in the church. There is a

ring (The) Ring(s) may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV * ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...

of eight bells, all cast in 1920 by John Taylor and Company of

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...

External features

Outside the church are two associated structures, both of which are listed at Grade II. At the entrance to the churchyard on the north side is a

lychgate A lychgate (from Old English ''līc'', corpse) or resurrection gate is a covered gateway found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples also exist outside the British Isles in places such as Newfoundland, the ...

dated 1855. It consists of a stone base with octagonal stone

piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...

and timber posts supporting a slate roof. The ridge of the roof consists of pierced tiles, and on the

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s are cross

finial A finial () or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a dome, spire, tower, roo ...

s. To the northwest of the church is a hearse house constructed in stone with a slate roof. Its keystone is inscribed with the date 1841 and a skull and crossbones. The churchyard contains memorial headstones commemorating six soldiers of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

who buried in it, but whose graves are not individually marked.

List of vicars

The list of vicars of St George's church, Hyde since the church was built in 1832; source: *Herbert Allkin (1832–1849) *Alexander Read (1849–1875) *William H. Lowder, M.A. (1875–1888) *William G. Bridges, M.A. (1888–1906) *John A. Davys, M.A. (1906–1916) *Harold J. Graham, M.A. (1916–1931) *Frederic C. Sellar, M.A. (1932–1933) *Edward V. Dawson, B.A. (1933–1942) *Thomas A. Parker, L.TH. (1942–1955) *Duncan Baird (1955–1967) *L. Roy Lawrence, M.A. (1968–1975) *Michael W. Walters, BSc (1975–1982) *Geoffery H. Greenough, B.A. B.D. (1982–1987) *John H. Darch, M.A. (1988–1999) *T. S. McCabe, BSc (2000) *Steven J. Wilson, Btech (2000–2010) *Joanna C. Parker, M.A. (2011–2017) *Jeremy Bentliff (2018–present)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint George's Church, Hyde Grade II listed churches in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside Hyde Diocese of Chester Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Greater Manchester Churches completed in 1832 19th-century Church of England church buildings Commissioners' church buildings Hyde, Greater Manchester

History

Architecture

External features

List of vicars

See also

References