Weight: 448 lbs Diameter: 33.5" Bell 1 of 1
Founded by Abel Rudhall 1749
Dove Bell ID: 55292 Tower ID: 20855 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Heywood: St James
Overview
Grid reference: SD 851 106
St James, Heywood, was constructed in 1838 in a simplified late-C13th style, on the cusp of the rise of the ecclesiological movement (the Cambridge Camden Society was founded the following year). The church was constructed by local mill-owning families for their tenants. The chancel was added in 1861 in a fully-fledged version of the geometric style.
Visiting and facilities
Building is open for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
West tower, nave, chancel with north and south vestries.
Footprint of Church buildings: 519 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
Heywood was recorded as a hamlet in the C12, but the settlement is probably older still. The lords of the manor were the Heywood family, who built Heywood Hall in the C13. The hamlet continued as a small rural settlement, largely pastoral but with some weaving industry, until cotton manufacture started locally.
The first spinning-mill, Marking Mill, was at Wrigley Brook, in the late C18 and was later converted to a cotton mill by Robert Peel (father of the Prime Minister), but the place did not grow into a town until the mid-C19. By 1833, shortly before the church was built, there were 27 cotton mills and an increasing urban population. The Topographical Dictionary of England reports that in 1845 there were 36 cotton-mills in the town, all, with one exception, for heavy fustian goods, producing 8,506 tons of cotton annually, and consuming 71,101 tons of coal. The size of the town can be judge from local employment: in these mills and in two paper-mills, 7510 persons were employed in 1848. There was also a coal company and quarry, using a branch of the Rochdale canal at Blue Pits, and a branch of the Manchester and Leeds railway. In 1881, the newly created Municipal Borough of Heywood included 67 cotton mills and weaving sheds, 22 churches and chapels and a population of c. 25,000.
Growth continued into the C20, with the foundation of Plum Tickle Mill in 1905, the largest mule-spinning mill in the world under one roof. However, the later C20 saw a period of sharp decline as the cotton industry underwent a period of reform and devastation. From the 1960s-80s more and more mills closed, and most have now been demolished. The surviving "Mutual Mills", a complex of four, are Grade II listed.
The town was originally served by St Lukes, a chapel to Bury first built in the C17 but extended in 1805 and rebuilt in 1859 by Joseph Clark. The construction of St James in 1837-38 marks a period of intensive urbanisation as the cotton industry in the area expanded, exceeding the capacity of the chapel, despite its enlargement. The church is clearly intended to seat a large number of people for the lowest possible cost, with no piers and large galleries. Despite its date it is not a commissioners’ church. The funds came from local mill-owning families, including the Kershaws, and the church was presumably intended to improve the morals of their work force. A plaque on the north gallery records the gifts of Richard and Thomas Orford, John and Robert Kershaw, and Robert Kay. There are separate entrances for men and women, both screened, and with partitions in every pew to make mixing all but impossible. Had it been built a decade later the church would no doubt have appeared radically different, instead it is a late example of the kind of simple boxes with notionally gothic detailing that were still being erected until the arrival of the ecclesiological movement in the next few years.
Indeed, the expectations of the mid-decades of the C19 are expressed in the addition of the short chancel, not considered a liturgical necessity in the 1830s, in 1861. Unlike the simple Y tracery (in timber) in the nave, the east window has archaeologically correct geometric tracery, and two large vestries for the complex robing and processions demanded by the Victorians. On the exterior the vestries have well-detailed gothic doors with labels and headstops, while the earlier west entrance has a plain triple chamfer.
Exterior Description
The church has a simple rectangular plan with later chancel leading to north and south vestries, an ante-chapel to the nave, and west tower. The whole is constructed in coursed ashlar, presumably around a rubble core.
The two-storey tower is described, accurately, by Pevsner as being ‘undersized’. It has a two-centred triple-chamfered arched west doorway with early or original doors with blind tracery. There is a pointed arched window and clock face above. The tower has angle buttresses with two set offs. There are two lancet bell openings on each face and a parapet.
The church is seven bays in length, each containing a two-light window with Y tracery, plain in execution, apart from the western bay which contains a door in a pointed arch opening. There are seven very slender buttress along each side, with angle buttresses at the corners, and a plain parapet. The east end has a five-light window with geometric tracery and two buttresses, each with two set offs. It has a plinth and string course at dado level. The vestries have pitched roofs and small cusped windows, that to the south appears to be a later addition, that to the north original. They have angle buttresses and pointed-arch doorways.
Building Fabric and Features
Tower (component)
19th century west
Nave
19th century
Chancel
19th century
Vestry
19th century north and south
Building Materials
Ashlar
19th century exterior
Mortar
19th century exterior
Plaster
19th century interior
Timber
19th century roof beams
Slate
19th century roofs
Interior
Interior Description
The interior is vast open space with galleries on cast-iron columns of 1838. The galleries run around all three sides of the nave, with panelled fronts and banked seating, all movable benches. The single span roof is vast and dominating, but Pevsner is overly critical of it. It is formed of cusped scissor braces with extra struts and open-work tracery. There are four purlins and a ridge piece. The walls are plastered and painted.
The pews are substantial Victorian objects, with some minimal decoration on the pew ends (stylised flowers), and on timber pew platforms. The choir stalls are slightly more ornate equivalents. There are parclose screens to the north and south doorways in the west, presumably to separate men and women, also with gothic tracery. The aisles are carpeted, probably over flags, with heating grills over channels to either side of the central aisle. They are of a single level, with chancel step.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
19th century Timber table with solid sides and gothic panelling, on a marble platform.
Reredos
19th century In marble, the width of the chancel and with gothic traceried panelling, otherwise unpainted or decorated.
Pulpit
19th century The immensely tall pulpit is almost as high as the galleries, in coloured marble with blind traceried panels.
Lectern
19th century One ornate brass lectern, one plain timber reading desk.
Font (component)
19th century Stone with marble pillars supporting the rim.
Rail
19th century Good quality ornate ironwork.
Stained Glass (window)
19th / 20th century Entirely late Victorian and C20. Dedications on brass plaques on the window sills: in the north to Richard Partington, 1911. To the south: from west-east: Alice Coupe, 1930; Mary Ann Coupe, 1891; James Gee, 1933; Tom and Jane Coupe, 1962.
Organ (component)
19th century Plaques noted that it was rebuilt in 1938 for Nellie Chadwick in memory of her parents, and again in 1986 by George Shaw.
Bells
Churchyard
Grid reference: SD 851 106
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
Submit a change
If you notice something incorrect or missing, please explain it in the form below and submit it to our team for review.