The first Catholic church in Wilmslow was established around 1873 and was situated on Alma Lane, in what was then a rural village. After Wilmslow was incorporated as a town 30 years later, building work started at the current site — land which was gifted from the estate of the De Trafford family.
The church was completed in 1914 to the design of William Gillow, who adopted a basic T-plan with shallow transeptal chapels. The architecture is emphasised by the gabled ends and the height of the chapels compared to the rest of the interior, which is unexpectedly spacious as a consequence. Construction of the presbytery followed in the mid 1920s after the war and since then Gillow’s interior has been modified twice, once in the 1980s and more recently in 2008–9. Further information about the history of the church can be found at www.stteresawilmslow.org, where this information has been taken with thanks.
The difference between the elaborate, red brick and stone architecture of this church contrasts with the many, varied buildings used for Catholic worship at locations across the country. Just to the North of Wilmslow for example, in Newton - St Pauls is a fine example of an urban Victorian church built in the imposing “Decorated Gothic” style. Whereas down in South Wales, Cowbridge - St Cadoc has a Catholic church that is a simple, rectangular whitewashed building with a slate roof.
Way out West in Cornwall, although now Anglican the church in Widemouth – Our Lady & St Anne – was originally built from wood and asbestos and used as a small, private oratory. There is a big difference between this humble building and the striking 1960s architecture of the church in Horley many miles east, made of yellow bricks and incorporating an octagonal sanctuary designed by the architect J H Alleyn. These four buildings however, are all examples of Catholic architecture across the nation.
How to find this cache
This Church Micro is a mystery cache and so the cache is not hidden at the listed coordinates. Be mindful it’s part of a national series, read the listing above and apply a bit of lateral thinking to give you two three-digit numbers, which can be used in the following formula to reveal the coordinates of the physical container:
N53° 19 ● ▁ ▁ ▁ W002° 13 ● ▁ ▁ ▁
The final location is a short walk away and conveniently placed if you have used the parking waypoint in the listing.
Roadside parking can be found in a few places around Wilmslow and we have listed a waypoint for a reliable spot which is near both the church and the final location. You will need a pen or pencil to sign the log of this cache. We welcome logs highlighting any issues that detract from the quality of the cache or any suggestions you have to improve it. Good luck everyone!
For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro.co.uk.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and
Home
pages for further information about the series.
Disclaimer - As the geocache owner, I ensure that this links to a local geocaching group that is active in the community and contributing to geocaching in positive ways. This link has not been checked by Geocaching HQ or by the reviewer.