Church Of Emmanuel

The Church of Emmanuel, located on Barlow Moor Road in Didsbury, Manchester, was built in 1858 by architects Starkey and Cuffley. The church features coursed sandstone rubble and graduated green slate roofs. It consists of a nave with north and south aisles, both under parallel roofs, a small octagonal steeple attached to the west end of the south aisle, a south transept, a chancel with a south chapel, and a north vestry. The architectural style is Decorated.

The steeple has a square base and is splay-footed, adorned with a continuous arcade of tall cusped and louvred belfry windows. The south aisle has three bays, while the north aisle has four bays, both buttressed and featuring 2-centred arched windows with three cusped lights and cinquefoil heads. The nave boasts a large four-light west window with reticulated tracery, and the south transept includes diagonal buttresses and a three-light window with similar tracery. The south chapel, now partially covered by a late 20th-century glazed vestibule, has two-light windows, with the center window replaced by a door. The east end of the chapel has diagonal buttresses and a traceried oculus above the window, while the chancel features a large five-light window with spherical-triangle tracery. The three-bay vestry, attached at right angles to the chancel, also has buttresses and two-light windows. All windows are equipped with hoodmoulds that have figured stops.

Inside, the church has four-bay arcades with double-chamfered arches supported by cylindrical columns, which are now painted red, and feature moulded annular caps. The nave has an arch-braced roof, while the chancel has a scissor-braced roof. The stained glass includes a south window in the transept designed by William Morris in 1889, predominantly featuring leaf-scrolls with figures in the upper parts of the lights. The center window of the north aisle depicts the parable of the sower in Pre-Raphaelite style, featuring a figure amidst a landscape of woodland, cornfields, and lush foliage, commemorating John Radcliffe, who died in 1876. The church's furnishings have been completely remodelled.