A meeting was held on the 9th May 1835 in the Eagle Inn to which 13 gentlemen attended; 12 local mill owners and a local solicitor. They were all of the opinion that a new church should be built in the township of Stayley. A subscription list was opened at the meeting and 1,040 pounds was pledged and which was found to be over a quarter of the money required to build the new church. The Earl of Stamford donated 10,627 square yards of land upon which to build the church and for the original grave yard. Richard Tattershall of Manchester was chosen as the architect with the brief that the design was to be the Early English Perpendicular Style of the 13th century. The Foundation Stone was laid by Viscount Combermere on the 2nd February 1838 with an impressive ceremony which was watched by some 12,000 - 15,000 prople. The church was consecrated on the 9th October 1839 and almost the total cost of 4,100 pounds was covered by the subscriptions raised.
The church has only been the shape we see to-day since 1899 - it was originally an oblong building with a tower. In 1896 £2,400 was raised by subscriptions and a bazaar which was held in the Town Hall over four days during February. The bazaar was considered to be a remarkable financial and social success. The money raised was used to pay for the re-seating and re-flooring of most of the church, a completely new heating installation with radiators etc. and the building of the South Transept (the North Transept had been completed in 1874). At the same time the Harrison family provided the alabaster reredos in the Sanctuary. The Vicar, Canon Sheriff, said at the annual Vestry meeting, that he was glad the church extensions and improvements would be completed before the end of the century and that the church was now a perfect Latin cross as the architect of the original plans had intended.
Services of re-dedication were held in October 1899 when the vicar preached at the morning service and the Ven. Archdeacon Woosnam, Vicar of St. Margaret's Church, Dunham Massey, preached at the evening service. The following Sunday Dr Jayne, the Bishop of Chester, came to St. Paul's and took for his sermon the text Ruth 11:4 about Boaz - that "all were labourers together in the harvest field".
In 1984 the church was redicated following restoration work, after the church was damaged by a fire in the vestryin 1981. Many thanks for the St. Paul's Church Stalybridge website for the information on this page, more detail is available there for those interested.
Although it's on the fence, it shouldn't be evil, it should be next to a main post.
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