Church Of St Andrew

The Church of St Andrew is a Grade II* listed church located on Chadwick Road, built between 1877 and 1879, with the interior completed in 1883. Designed by Herbert Edward Tijou, the tower was finished in a modified design by J.S. Crowther in 1889 after Tijou's death. The church is constructed of rock-faced stone and features a slate roof. It showcases a Gothic Revival style with a nave and apse under a continuous roof, along with aisles, a south porch, and a south-east tower.

The church has a seven-bay nave and aisles, characterized by a weathered plinth and buttresses. The windows include two-light aisle and clerestory windows with Geometrical tracery and hoodmoulds, a gabled porch in the second bay, two two-light west windows, and a small rose window. The polygonal apse has two-light windows on each face. The tower is an impressive four-stage structure with set-back, weathered, gableted buttresses that transition into octagonal piers topped with crocketed pinnacles above a pierced castellated parapet. It features a four-light window, a lancet in the second stage, a rose window in the third stage, and trefoil friezes above and below the two-light belfry openings.

Inside, the church has a seven-bay nave arcade with moulded arches supported by circular stone columns with intricately carved foliated capitals. The lofty nave is enhanced by arch-braced roof trusses. The chancel contains a richly carved reredos, oak panelling, a communion rail, choir stalls, and an organ loft dating from 1898 to 1902. The organ, originally from 1883, was rebuilt and enlarged in the mid-20th century. The low chancel wall features an attached pulpit from 1879. Pews from Manchester Cathedral were installed in the aisles in 1893, with additional pews in the centre of the nave added in 1918. The font, originally from 1879, was moved in 1995. The church has Minton floor tiles and stained glass windows, including the east windows from 1886 by Kempe, a west window from 1916, and four other windows likely by Shrigley and Hunt of Preston, along with four windows signed by Alfred O. Hemming. One window in the north aisle commemorates A.H. Clayton, who died at Loos in 1915.

Overall, the Church of St Andrew is an imposing structure both inside and out, highlighted by its majestic tower. Tijou also designed the chapel at Loreto College in Manchester between 1874 and 1876.