The Church of St Mary, Hulme in the County of -- Lancashire --

	St Mary Hulme, Parsonage St view from Chichester Rd Photograph supplied by and © of Barbara Holt

St Mary’s Church was founded by Wilbraham Egerton of Tatton, whose family owned large amounts of land in Hulme. Designed by the Manchester architect Joseph Stretch Crowther, it took five years to build at a cost of around £16,000 (the foundations alone took a year to complete due to the discovery of quicksand under the building land). The church spire, at 241 feet tall, was the tallest in the north of England at the time of building. St Mary’s was consecrated on 13 November 1858, by which time Wilbraham Egerton had died, leaving completion of the project to his son, William Tatton Egerton.

	St Mary Hulme, view of spire from Parsonage St Photograph supplied by and © of Barbara Holt

St Mary’s was one of nine churches built in Hulme between 1840 and 1870. This number diminished gradually due to Hulme’s declining population, and St Mary’s finally closed in 1978, although the altar screen was conserved and re-sited in the Church of the Ascension on Royce Road. The St Mary’s building continued for some years as a place of worship for the African Methodist Episcopalian Church, but is now converted into apartments. St Mary’s was designated a Grade II* listed building in 1974.

	St Mary Hulme, view of spire and window Photograph supplied by and © of Barbara Holt

Sources

Manchester Guardian, 15th November 1858, report on the consecration of St Mary’s
“Like a Mighty Tortoise, a History of the Diocese of Manchester” by the Rev. Arthur Dobb, 1978
http://www.ascension-hulme.org.uk