Weight: 2248 lbs Diameter: 48.13" Bell 1 of 1
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1910
Dove Bell ID: 55291 Tower ID: 20854 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Heywood: All Souls
Overview
Grid reference: SD 866 110
F. P. Oakley, 1898-99; tower by Oakley and G. Sanville, 1908, donated by Rathbone Hartley (the first vicar). Two westernmost bays of nave subdivided in 1994 to form parish room, kitchen and WC.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Six-bay nave with clerestorey, aisles, four-stage north tower to NW, porch. Polygonal apsidal chancel. Hexagonal vestry to the north, chapel to the south. C20 parish room with WC and kitchen in western section of nave and aisles.
Footprint of Church buildings: 543 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
The archaeology data service has only recorded post-medieval sites in the vicinity of Heywood, mostly industrial. The Victoria County History records that Heywood was farmland from the medieval period until it began to develop into a town in the later eighteenth century, growing in the nineteenth with the arrival of the Rochdale and Manchester canal in 1830 and the railway in 1841. No previous building is known to have existed on the site and there are no known burials. The archaeological potential of the site is therefore likely to be low.
The chancel, and later the tower, were given by the first vicar, Rathbone Hartley.
Trees and bushes in churchyard; according to QI they are not subject to any TPOs. Surrounded by farmland to the S and E.
Exterior Description
The nave has cusped plate tracery in C13 style: to the aisle, of two lights, cusped, with trefoil above; to the clerestory, of three lights, cusped, with taller central light and a roundel, trefoil or vesica piscis above each side light. In each case, windows are joined by continuous course of dressed stone below. Easternmost bay of S aisle has single cusped lancet beside pointed-arched door with hood mould with foliate stops. Weathered buttresses between windows to aisles; pilaster-strips between windows to clerestory. Gable between nave and chancel with cross finial and gableted weathered buttresses.
The N transept has plate tracery (three cusped lancets) at lower level and Geometrical round window above (three trefoils, roundels and mouchettes). Course of dressed stone to each side of round window, and another, broken, above. Coped gable. Weathered angled buttresses to N face.
Polygonal vestry with weathered angle buttresses and paired, cusped square-topped windows, roofed pyramidally with pointed finial.
Polygonal chancel has diagonal weathered gableted buttresses. Windows have geometrical tracery, hood moulds with foliate stops. Two-light, with sexfoil above, except for E window, which is three light with central sexfoil and flanking trefoils above. String course beneath windows and another above plinth.
SE chapel has Geometrical round window to E wall (three trefoils) and plate tracery (two lancets with roundel above) to S. Coped gables to E and W.
W façade: doorway to S aisle (two-leaf, with fine hinges), with hood mould, and weathered plinth above. W wall of nave has grand Geometrical window: four lancets, each with two quatrefoils and a sexfoil above, and a central cinquefoil. Two cusped lancets below, with pointed surrounds. N aisle has plate tracery (two lancets with roundel above), and weathered plinth above. W wall has coped gable topped with cross finial.
Four-stage tower standing outside the N aisle, with angled buttresses that become diagonal buttresses at the bell stage. The bell-stage has traceried lancet openings and stone-flag louvres; the parapet has blind traceried arcading. Projecting polygonal tower stairway with pyramidal roof to W. Doorway to N, with three-ordered surround, and hoodmould; door is two-leaf with fine hinges. Above, a carved dedicatory tablet; weathered plinth; and geometrical window (two lancets with quatrefoil above) with hood mould with foliate stops.
Building Fabric and Features
Nave
19th century six bay
Clerestory
19th century
Tower (component)
20th century 4 stage
Chancel
19th century polygonal apsidal
Vestry
19th century hexagonal
Chapel (component)
19th century south
Kitchen
20th century
Building Materials
Sandstone
19th century local pitch-faced
Ashlar
19th century details in buff coloured sandstone
Slate
19th century Westmoreland green roof
Terracotta
19th century ridge tiles
Concrete
19th century tower structure
Steel
19th century tower structure
Brick
19th century interior
Timber
19th century internal roof structure
Interior
Interior Description
The interior is of brick, with judicious use of dressed stone in window surrounds, pillars, hood moulds and vaulting. There is little carved decoration.
The chancel is rib-vaulted, “a lavish refinement paid for by the first vicar” (B of E). It has quadripartite brick vaulting with stone ribs supported on stone shafts - that nearest the chancel arch on each side terminating in a corbel. There is a cusped square-topped door to the vestry on the N side; on the S side, the chancel and chapel are divided by stone columns. The surround to the chancel arch features detached stone shafts. There are two steps up to the choir, which is divided from the nave by a low stone wall; two steps up to the communion rail; and three more to the altar.
Beneath the clerestory, two string courses frame a plaster strip. There is a hood-mould above the nave arches. The double-chamfered nave arcade has octagonal columns with plain bold capitals. The nave has a scissor-braced hammer-beam roof with arch braces.
The W end of the nave and aisles was subdivided in 1994 to form a parish room, kitchen and store: “an expensive job but leaving unresolved the dead space above it” (B of E).
The first stage of the tower is the porch. The porch roof has the same brick and stone vaulting as the chancel. Inscribed around the walls, Psalm 26 v.8: “Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.” There is a stone bench to the E. To the W, a doorway leads to a brick-lined stone spiral stair to the second stage, the ringing chamber, which has brick walls, quarry glazed windows and a timber floor and ceiling. There is a long wooden stair ladder to the third stage, the clockroom, which has a timber floor, brick walls and a concrete ceiling. There is a ladder to the fourth stage, the bell chamber, which has concrete floor and ceiling and brick walls. There are ashlar surrounds to the louvres, which have mesh to the rear to protect from birds.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
20th century High altar, timber. Church inventory records its donation by Mrs Henry Lee in memory of her husband. Chapel altar, timber with blind Decorated Gothic tracery.
Pulpit
20th century Ornate timber with blind Decorated Gothic tracery and statues in niches, on stone base. The church register records its donation by Mrs S. Wild and Mrs Kershaw (sisters). From the look of it, the stem has been removed. Was the pulpit relocated from the north side of the chancel arch to the south when the font was installed on the chancel step, and was the stem lost then?
Lectern
20th century One brass and one plain timber.
Font (component)
19th century Stone. It has been relocated from the west end to the chancel step, on the north side, possibly having displaced the pulpit (see above). Details a little worn. The base seems to be in a different stone to the stem and bowl and may be of a later date.
Reredos
20th century Oak, depicting the Last Supper. A brass plaque records its donation by James Heyworth and his wife, 1937. The church inventory records that it was saved from the now-demolished church of “The Good Shepherd”, Entwistle Road, Rochdale.
Chair
20th century Nave seating; simple wooden chairs on rails.
Pew (component)
19th century Churchwardens’ pews, with canopies now housing bookshelves, having frontals with pierced roundels.
Stall
19th century Choir stalls contemporary with church. Oak. Carved ends, pierced frontals. The church inventory records that it was given as a ‘thanks offering’ for Canon Hartley by his parishioners and friends. Desks added to raise height.
Rail
20th century Communion rail: Carved oak. The church inventory records that it was given in memory of Mrs Henry Lee, by her friends. Altar rail in Lady Chapel, timber, plain. Church inventory records its donation in memory of Mrs Metcalf by the Metcalf family.
Organ (component)
20th century An electro-pneumatic organ by George Sixsmith and Son Ltd. of Mossley. The church inventory records that this organ replaced, in 1984, the original organ of 1911.
Plaque (component)
19th century Brass plaque in chancel records its dedication by the first vicar of the parish, Rathbone Hartley, in memory of his mother and sister.
Inscribed Object
20th century Above NW door to tower porch, stone inscription records the donation of the tower: “To the glory of God this tower was erected by Rathbone Hartley M.A. vicar of this parish in loving memory of Emily Louise his wife, who entered into rest Dec 14th 1908.”
Plaque (component)
20th century WW1: marble memorial plaque and roll of honour in N aisle, apparently relocated from another church on closure
Stained Glass (window)
20th century E window: Three-light. Illustrating the ‘Te Deum’: Christ in majesty with the saints, with cherubim in the roundels above. Brass plaque mounted beneath reredos records its donation in memory of George Hartley of Simpson Hill (d.1863) by his son Rathbone Hartley, the first vicar, 1908. Classic Shrigley and Hunt. Pictured. S chapel, E: round segmented window – trios of cherubim alternating with ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’. Bronze plaque beneath records its dedication to the memory Emily Louise Hartley (wife of the first vicar), Easter 1909, by the Girls Friendly Society and the Mothers’. Also Shrigley and Hunt. S chapel, S: two-light. “Christ blessing the children.” Seems to be a copy of a Renaissance painting (Italian street scene), unidentified. In roundel above, dedication to the memory of Vincent Hartley, presumably a child of the first vicar (died 1896, aged 5). Also Shrigley and Hunt. S aisle: two-light. Two scenes from the boyhood of Christ: L, in the carpenter’s shop, given in memory of George Hardman, Mayor of Heywood, d.1960, by his family; R, reading to Mary, given by George Hardman in memory of his wife Margaret, d.1959. Signed “T. F. Wilford F.B.S.M.G.P., Marple Bridge., Ches.” A further inscription reads “Damaged by vandals – Restored by Alan Courtney, Bolton, 1988.” W wall (parish room). Two lancets: L - Christ with John the Baptist, given in memory of Thomas Duncan Spencer, killed in France, July 1944 (see above); R – Mary with the infant Jesus, given in memory of the Rev. S. H. Wadman, vicar 1928-38 by his parishioners. Signed by Shrigley and Hunt. The font was presumably located in front of these windows to form a baptistery before it was moved to the chancel step. N aisle: single lancet. “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Dedicated to the memory of the Rev Canon Rathbone Hartley, first vicar. Records the foundation of the Canon Rathbone Memorial Fund in his memory. Also by Shrigley and Hunt.
Bells
Churchyard
Grid reference: SD 866 110
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
Quinquennial Inspections
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