St Ann's Church, Manchester

{{Short description|Parish church in Manchester, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox church | name = St Ann's Church | full_name = The Parish Church of St Ann | image = 2018 St Ann's Church, Manchester (2) Richard Cobden statue.jpg | image_size = | caption = | mapframe = no | location = Manchester | country = England | website = [https://www.stannsmanchester.com/ Church website] | dedication = St Anne | consecrated = 17 July 1712 | denomination = Church of England | churchmanship = Broad Church | functional_status = Active | heritage_designation = | designated = | architect = | architectural_type = | style = Classical architecture | years_built = | groundbreaking = 18 May 1709 | completed = | parish = St Ann's | deanery = | archdeaconry = Manchester | diocese = Manchester | province = York | rector = Rev. Adam Robertson }} '''St Ann's Church''' is a Church of England parish church in Manchester, England. Although named after St Anne, it also pays tribute to the patron of the church, Ann, Lady Bland. St Ann's Church is a Grade I listed building.<ref>{{cite web|title=A-Z of Listed Buildings in Manchester|url=http://www.manchester.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=1908&pageNumber=18 |publisher=Manchester City Council|access-date=27 December 2007}}</ref><ref>{{NHLE|desc=Church of St Anne|num=1247612|access-date=27 December 2007}}</ref>

==Architecture and setting== At the beginning of the 18th century, Manchester was a small rural town, little more than a village, with many fields and timber-framed houses. A large cornfield named ''Acres Field'', which is now St Ann's Square, became the site for St Ann's Church.<ref name="MCCStAnns">{{cite web|title=St Ann's Square Conservation Area|url=http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/511/conservation_areas/144/st_anns_square_conservation_area/2|website=Manchester City Council Conservation Areas|publisher=Manchester City Council|access-date=10 March 2018}}</ref> Acresfield was the site of an annual fair from the 13th century until 1823 when it was moved to Knott Mill.<ref>Hartwell, Clare (2001) ''Manchester''. (Pevsner Architectural Guides.) Penguin Books, p. 199</ref>

Although the church stood between the market and the collegiate church, both towers could be seen from all directions. It is a neo-classical building, originally constructed from locally quarried, red Collyhurst sandstone although, due to its soft nature, much of the original stone has since been replaced with sandstone of various colours from Parbold in Lancashire, Hollington in Staffordshire, Darley Dale in Derbyshire and Runcorn in Cheshire.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sci-eng.mmu.ac.uk/manchester_stone/images.asp?page1=2&vartype=building&id=&offset=0# |title=Building stone in the city of Manchester: St Ann's Church |access-date=25 July 2008}}</ref> When the church was first constructed, the interior was simple, with plain glass windows. However, in the 19th century many changes were made, including the installation of stained glass windows. Some of these were bespoke, and others were adapted from other churches. One such window, on the north side of the church, was designed and made by William Peckitt of York.{{efn|The Peckitt window came from St John's.<ref>{{citation |last=Hartwell |first=Clare|title=Manchester |series=Pevsner Architectural Guides|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2002 |pages=11, 253 |isbn=978-0-300-09666-8}}</ref>}} The furniture includes a Queen Anne altar table, thought to be the only existing one of its kind, and a painting of "The Descent from the Cross" by Annibale Carracci of Bologna, which had previously hung in the nearby St Peter's Church prior to is demolition in 1907.<ref>''Manchester for the Tourist''. City of Manchester Publicity Office, [1969]; p. 6</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=History |url=https://stannsmanchester.com/heritage/history-of-st-anns/ |website=stannsmanchester.com |publisher=St Ann's Church, Manchester |access-date=8 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421184819/https://stannsmanchester.com/heritage/history-of-st-anns/ |archive-date=21 April 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The tower of the church marks the centre of the city; surveyors used it as a platform to measure distances to other locations. Their benchmark remains visible at the tower door.<ref>{{cite web |title=St Ann's in the 18th C. |url=http://www.stannsmanchester.com/content/view/121/130/ |publisher=St Ann's Manchester |access-date=27 December 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071121042513/http://www.stannsmanchester.com/content/view/121/130/ |archive-date=21 November 2007 }}</ref>

===Buildings and statues in St Ann's Square=== At the southeast corner of the square is the Royal Bank of Scotland which is in the Italian palazzo style. It was built in 1848 for Benjamin Heywood's bank by J. E. Gregan. In the square there are two statues; the statue of Richard Cobden is by Marshall Wood, 1867; the Boer War Memorial is by Hamo Thornycroft, 1907.<ref>Hartwell, Clare (2001) ''Manchester''. (Pevsner Architectural Guides.) Penguin Books, pp. 201–02</ref>

==History== ===Consecration=== right|260px|thumb|Interior of St Ann's Church The Mosleys were the Lords of the Manor of Manchester and in 1693 the manor was inherited by Lady Ann Bland, daughter of Sir Edward Mosley.<ref>Schofiled, Jonathan [https://confidentials.com/manchester/a-short-history-of-manchester-fashion-growth-and-execution-1660-1746 A Short History of Manchester; pt. 4: 1660-1746]; confidentials.com/manchester; accessed 2025-07-21</ref> Lady Bland was a leader of fashion in Manchester, staunch in her religious and political views as a member of the Low Church Party: she herself at first worshipped at the Presbyterian church in the centre of the town. In 1695, however, Henry Newcome, the incumbent, died and Lady Bland decided to found a church of her own. In 1708, Parliament was petitioned to seek permission to build a new church, as the population of Manchester was increasing rapidly. On 18 May 1709, Lady Bland laid the foundation stone of a new church at one end of Acres Field. On 17 July 1712, the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Chester and was dedicated to Saint Anne, the Virgin Mary's mother, which was a compliment both to the founder and to the reigning monarch, Queen Anne. Lady Bland herself is buried in the Church of St James, Didsbury, where a memorial plaque commemorates her life.<ref>{{citation|last1=Hartwell|first1=Clare|last2=Hyde|first2=Matthew|last3=Pevsner|first3=Nikolaus|series=The Buildings of England|title=Lancashire: Manchester and the South East|year=2004|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-300-10583-5|p=442}}</ref>

===John Byrom=== As a result of the proximity of St Ann's to the collegiate church, there was a time when it was fashionable to attend "the old church" in the morning and "the new church" in the afternoon or vice versa. One of those who did so was John Byrom (1692–1763), author of ''Christians Awake'', who played quite a prominent part at St Ann's under the first two rectors, despite his Jacobite sympathies.

===Manchester becomes a growing town=== thumb|left|260px|St Ann's Square, 1745 Towards the end of the 17th century, streets had become more numerous in the St Ann's district; by 1720, St Ann's Square had been laid out and planted with trees in imitation of the fashionable squares of London and Bath. By 1735, buildings had begun to rise on the south side of Acres Field and King Street and Ridgefield came into being. There was now no longer the simple distinction between "the old church" and "the new church". The rapid growth of Manchester as a result of the Industrial Revolution led to the building of other churches. Then, as the population moved out to the suburbs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many of these churches fell into disuse and were demolished. St Ann's holds the memorials from several of these churches, for example Sir Charles Barry's St Matthew's, Campfield (built 1823–25, demolished 1950).

==Importance to civic life== thumb|260px|The east side of St Ann's Square, 2015 St Ann's has always been closely associated with the civic life, and its rectors have from time to time acted as chaplain to the Lord Mayor, the county council chairmen and the police. In 1975, the Friends of St Ann's Church was formed from the business houses in the parish, to maintain the fabric of this historic building. Renovation work was carried out at St Ann's during 2011 (whilst the church remained operational). The work included the repair of its clock, bell, stonework and roof.<ref>{{cite news |title=St Ann's Church, Manchester: Exclusive Refurb Pictures |last=Schofield |first=Jonathan |url=http://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/News/St-Anns-Church-Manchester-Exclusive-Refurb-Pictures |work=Manchester Confidential |date=9 May 2012 |access-date=6 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140605051323/http://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/News/St-Anns-Church-Manchester-Exclusive-Refurb-Pictures |archive-date=5 June 2014 }}</ref> During renovation work the church was draped in large advertising banners, which was controversial for a Grade I listed building.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Good, The Standard, The Ugly: St Ann's Ads |last=Schofield |first=Jonathan |url=http://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/Culture/St-Anns-Church-Advertisement-Debate |work=Manchester Confidential |date=28 August 2012 |access-date=6 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020034548/http://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/Culture/St-Anns-Church-Advertisement-Debate |archive-date=20 October 2012 }}</ref> The church has an active concert schedule, including weekly lunchtime organ recitals (on Wednesdays), monthly professional concerts, and regular piano and chamber music concerts by Royal Northern College of Music students. The church has a four-manual George Sixsmith organ.

==References== '''Notes''' {{notelist}} '''Citations''' {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== {{commons category|St Ann's Church, Manchester}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.stannsmanchester.com/|title=Welcome to St Ann's}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manchester, St Ann}} Category:Churches in Manchester Category:Tourist attractions in Manchester Category:Grade I listed churches in Manchester Category:Anglican Diocese of Manchester Category:Sandstone churches in England Category:Squares in Manchester Category:Church of England church buildings in Greater Manchester Category:Churches completed in 1712 Category:18th-century Church of England church buildings Category:Neoclassical church buildings in England