Church

Church of the Holy Name, Manchester

Church of the Holy Name, Manchester

The Church of the Holy Name of Jesus on Oxford Road, Chorlton-on-Medlock, is a Grade I Jesuit church by Joseph Aloysius Hansom and his son Joseph Stanislaus, built 1869–71 on a cathedral scale.

Location
Manchester, Greater Manchester
Country
England
County
Greater Manchester
City / town
Manchester
Address
Oxford Road, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M13 9PG
Postcode
M13 9PG
Built
1869–71; tower 1928
Consecrated
1923
Architect
J. A. Hansom; Adrian Gilbert Scott (tower)
Denomination
Catholic Church
Diocese
Salford
Grade
I
Style
French Gothic Revival
Materials
Coursed sandstone rubble, steep slate roofs, terracotta vaults
Opening hours
Monday to Saturday: 11am - 1pm. Saturday: 10am - 12 noon and 6pm - 8pm
Access
Accessible toilets in church. Level access to the main areas. Ramp or level access available on request

Overview

The Bishop of Salford invited the Jesuits to serve Manchester’s growing Catholic population. Hansom designed a thirteenth-century French Gothic church 186 feet long, with flying buttresses, a polygonal apse and ambulatory, and rib vaults of banded terracotta. Pevsner called the design of the highest quality. The incomplete church opened in 1871; it was consecrated in 1923. Adrian Gilbert Scott’s west tower of 1928, in memory of Fr Bernard Vaughan SJ, replaced Hansom’s unbuilt lantern. Listed Grade II* in 1963 and raised to Grade I in 1989, it remains a Jesuit church in the Diocese of Salford on the university corridor.

Further Information