St Chrysostom,Victoria Park, Rushome, Lancashire Genealogy

Parish History
Victoria Park St Chrysostom

Victoria Park, Manchester, was conceived in the 1830s as a private and exclusive housing estate for the wealthy of Manchester. The original plans of 1836 showed a church, but it was not until 1874 that work began on building the church. The parish was created ed from local parishes, especially St James, Birch_in_Rusholme,_Lancashire, and the curate of St James, William Marsden, became the first Vicar of St Chrysostom's. The Anson family were among the original benefactors of the church, and Archdeacon Anson was, at the time, Vicar of St James, Birch. The family are commemorated in the naming of the Anson Chapel. St Chrysostom's was consecrated on October 13th 1877 by Bishop Fraser of Manchester.

In 1904 the church suffered a catastrophic fire, which left only a stone shell standing. For a while the congregation worshipped in a temporary buiding. John Ely, architect, and member of the congregation, was asked to restore the church. The restoration worked to retain as much as possible of the appearance of the building before the fire. Consequently much of the interior of the church resembles that of the 1877 building.

The building is a Grade II listed building. The entry in Pevsner's Buildings of England reads:

" 1874-7 by G. T. Redmayne...of yellow sandstone. Nave and Chancel treated as one, aisles with lancets, conical tower at the east corner of the north aisle. West end with a nicely detailed entrance porch with a canopy over containing a statue of St John Chrysostom. Polygonal apse, five bay arcade of round piers, extended to seven bays on south east side to accommodate the two-bay Anson chapel. All the furnishings and the roof date from rebuilding by John Ely after a fire in 1904. REREDOS. Good late C20 painting by Graeme Willson. STAINED GLASS. A fine scheme by Burlison and Grylls, including the Doctors of the Church, English saints and many First World War memorials. Another memorial window in the chapel is by Walter J. Pearce."