St Paul's Church, Withington
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| St Paul's Withington | |
|---|---|
_(September_2021)_(6).jpg) The church in September 2021 | |
  St Paul's Withington | |
| 53°25′57″N 2°13′41″W / 53.43254°N 2.22794°W | |
| Location | Manchester, North-West England |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Website | www |
| History | |
| Founded | 1841 |
| Architecture | |
| Heritage designation | Grade II listed |
| Designated | 1988 |
| Architect(s) | Hayley & Brown |
| Style | Neo-Norman |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | Red brick |
| Administration | |
| Province | York |
| Diocese | Manchester |
| Archdeaconry | Manchester |
| Deanery | Withington |
| Parish | Withington |
St Paul's Church, Withington is a Grade II listed Church of England parish church in the suburb of Withington, Manchester, in the United Kingdom. It is located on Wilmslow Road, and has an associated Church of England primary school.
Worship at St Paul's consists of traditional Holy Communion (Book of Common Prayer and Common Worship) and occasional services of Choral Evensong or evening prayer in support of L'Arche in Manchester.
St Paul's was built in 1841, when Withington was growing from a small Lancashire village into an urban district of Manchester. Prior to the establishment of St Paul's, the nearest Anglican place of worship to Withington was at the Church of St James, Didsbury.[1][2] St Paul's was built on land donated by Wilbraham Egerton, 1st Earl Egerton to provide a place of worship for local people of Withington.[3] The church was designed by the Mancunian architectural firm Hayley & Brown, who also built a number of churches around North-West England.[4][5][6]
Soon after the foundation of St Paul's, a school was established next to the church in 1844, St Paul's Primary School, also on land donated by Lord Egerton.[7]
In April 1847, during a visit to Manchester, the composer Felix Mendelssohn visited St Paul's to play the newly installed pipe organ. According to a churchwarden's 1896 account, Mendelssohn "played a service and gave a recital upon the organ and it was pronounced by him to be an excellent instrument". Mendelssohn's Manchester tour also included an organ recital at St Luke's Church, Cheetham. The composer had family and social connections with Withington; the first wedding to take place at St Paul's was that of a cousin of Mendelssohn's wife Cécile, and another cousin was married here in 1864.[3][6]
