St Ann's Church, Manchester

St. Ann's Church from the south

St. Ann's Church, Manchester, was consecrated in 1712. Although named after St. Anne, it also pays tribute to the patron of the church, Lady Ann Bland. Although never a parish church, it is a quiet haven in a busy city. St. Ann's Church is a Grade I listed building.

Architecture and setting

The interior

At the beginning of the 18th century, Manchester was a small rural town little more than a village, with many fields and timber framed houses; a large cornfield named Acres Field became the site for St. Ann's Church, which is now St. Ann's Square. The church was an impressive building. Although it stood between the market and the collegiate church, both steeples could be seen from all directions. It is a neo-classical building, constructed from local pink sandstone. At the time of its construction, the interior was extremely simple, with plain glass windows. However, in the 19th century many changes were made to the interior, including the installation of stained glass windows. Some of these were bespoke and others were adapted from other chuches. One such window, on the north side of the church, was designed and made by William Peckitt of York. The tower of the church marks the traditional centre of the city, surveyors used the tower as a platform to measure distances to other locations. Their benchmark remains visible at the tower door.

St. Ann's consecration

The Mosleys were the lords of the manor of Manchester and in 1693 the manor was inherited by Lady Ann Bland, daughter of Sir Edward Mosley. Lady Bland was a leader of fashion in Manchester, staunch in her religious and political views a member of the Low Church Party. Lady Bland herself at first worshipped at the Presbyterian Church in the centre of the town. In 1695, however, Henry Newcome, the incumbent, died and Lady Bland decided to found a church of her own. In 1708, Parliament was petitioned to seek permission to build a new church, as the population of Manchester was increasing rapidly. On the 18th of May 1709, Lady Bland laid the foundation stone of a new church at one end of Acres Field. On the 17th of June 1712, the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Chester and was dedicated to St. Ann, the Virgin Mary's mother, which was a compliment both to the founder and to the reigning monarch, Queen Anne.

John Byrom

As a result of the fact that St Ann's had been built in proximity to the collegiate church, there was a time when it was the done thing to attend "the old church" in the morning and "the new church" in the afternoon or vice versa. One of those who did so was John Byrom, author of Christians Awake, who played quite a prominent part at St Ann's under the first two rectors, despite his Jacobite sympathies.

Manchester becomes a growing town

Streets had by now fast become more numerous in the St Ann's district; by 1720, St Ann's Square had been laid out and planted with trees in imitation of the fashionable squares of London and Bath. In 1729, Sir Oswald Mosley built an exchange, not far from the site of the present Royal Exchange. By 1735, buildings had begun to rise on the south side of Acres Field, and King Street and Ridgefield came into being. There was now no longer the simple distinction between "the old Church" and "the new Church". The rapid growth of Manchester as a result of the Industrial Revolution led to the building of other churches. Then, as the population moved out to the suburbs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many of these churches fell into disuse and were demolished. St Ann's holds the memorials from several of these churches, for example Sir Charles Barry's St. Matthew's, Campfield (built 1823–25, demolished 1950).

St Ann's importance to civic life

St Ann's has always been closely associated with the civic life, and its rectors have from time to time acted as chaplain to the Lord Mayor, the County Council Chairmen and the police. In 1975, the Friends of St Ann's Church was formed from the business houses in the parish, to maintain the fabric of this historic building.

Gallery

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  St. Ann's Church, Manchester
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  St Ann's Church, in 2002

53°28′54″N 2°14′45″W