St Michael and All Angels Church

St Michael and All Angels Church is a parish church built in 1909 by the architect John Harold Gibbons of John Gibbons and Son, with significant additions made in 1960 by George Gaze Pace.

The church is constructed in red Cheshire sandstone with a red Rosemary clay tile roof. The tower is of concrete clad in brick with a timber bellcote, and copper roofs cover the tower lobbies. The building is planned on an east-west axis with a south-transept organ loft, north and south aisles, a west tower with flanking lobbies, and a north-east vestry and sacristy. A church hall was added at the north-west corner in the 1970s but is excluded from the listing.

The exterior displays Gothic style with Arts and Crafts detailing, built in random-coursed squared walling, much of it tooled. The east end is gabled with two large, twice-weathered buttresses flanking a five-light east window with decorated tracery, above which sits a small two-light mullioned window with cusped arches. A low, canted plinth runs across the base. The chancel continues simply from the nave and features two south lancets. Its south wall carries a plinth of multiple canted courses, continuing from the organ loft, which was originally intended as the base for the tower. The organ loft itself has weathered angle buttresses, a two-light traceried window, and an entrance with a flat lintel shared with a two-light mullioned side window. The south buttress of the organ loft bears a foundation stone inscribed in good-quality Gothic lettering: "TO THE GLORY OF GOD / THIS STONE WAS LAID BY THE / REV CANON W.SYMONDS MA / RECTOR OF STOCKPORT ON / JULY 10TH 1909". The east face of this stone is also carved with a floriated octofoil cross in low relief. The north wall of the chancel is largely obscured by Pace's later lean-to organ loft and the flat-roofed vestry and sacristy, which features mullioned windows of three lights on the east end and four and three lights on the north side.

The north aisle is gabled at the east end with an expressed chimney breast and has a flat-roofed north porch at its eastern end, featuring a shouldered entrance. Above the porch is a three-light mullioned window with tracery and a hoodmould. Beyond basement steps is a two-light pointed-arched window with tracery and hoodmould. The western bay is flanked by low, weathered buttresses and has a pair of identical windows. The north wall of the north tower-lobby is lower and of brick laid in English bond, pierced by five tall lancets. At its west end it is partially obscured by the 1970s hall.

The south aisle comprises three regular bays with twice-weathered buttresses between, each fitted with a three-light, pointed-arched window with hoodmould, all with different tracery. To the west, the brick south lobby features five lancets matching its northern counterpart and continues to a wide doorway with a joggled-voussoir stone lintel. This wall carries a foundation stone incised with a stylised floriated cross with leaf decoration and the date MCM LX followed by another stylised leaf. The stone rests on two sandstone blocks, which are herringbone-tooled to match those of the church walls.

The west ends of the tower lobbies each have five lancets, while the tower wall is blind at low level. The tower is splayed to the western angles with multi-course broaches similar to the plinths of the organ loft buttresses. The west wall displays a tall five-light window with pointed heads and stone sill, with a continuous arch-headed transom to the lower and third stages, and transoms to the second and fourth stages only to the outer and centre lights. The north wall has a similar two-light window with four transoms to each light, staggered so that only the third-stage transom is shared; to its right is a single light window with five transoms, all but one of which align with transoms in the pair to the left. The south wall has another five-light window with continuous lower-and-third-stage transoms and staggered transoms elsewhere, two of which are not aligned with any other. The tower is flat-roofed with a tall parapet and prominent concrete spitters to the north and east, but is crowned with a timber bellcote, gabled to the east and west.

The interior is little-altered, retaining much original decoration and furnishings. The east window depicts the Ascension and is by Heaton, Butler and Bayne. The chancel roof is barrel-vaulted and wood-panelled with ornate carved junction-bosses; the sanctuary features elaborate gilded centre-carvings to the panels. The chancel wall-tops display 12 angels with gilded musical instruments or instruments of Christ's Passion. The carved and gilded reredos by RG Boulton of Cheltenham bears statues of St Michael and St George on either side above symbols of the Passion. The south wall has a piscina and sedilia with stained glass windows above depicting the Good Shepherd and the Good Samaritan. The north wall accommodates Pace's organ loft. The clergy stalls are decorated with naturalistic carvings including an oak and acorn motif. The pulpit and reading desk are also carved wood. The chancel and sanctuary floors are tiled in black and white marble squares, divided by a low stone wall carved with a replica of the original foundation stone inscription. The wooden pendant light fittings are by Pace, and a silver-plated 17th-century presence lamp was added by him. The sacristy and vestry retain their parquet flooring, cupboards, folding doors, and stone washbasin.

The nave has arcades of three arches which die into octagonal piers without capitals. The nave and aisles each have similar barrel-vaulted, panelled ceilings with carved bosses, all fitted with Pace light fittings. The aisles are lined with linenfold panelling, topped in the Lady Chapel with symbols of the four evangelists. The parquet flooring is oak along the aisle and nave passages but pine in the seating areas, which never contained pews. The south aisle contains three windows by Heaton, Butler and Bayne depicting St Michael slaying the dragon, the Resurrection, and the shepherds listening to angels proclaiming peace. The north aisle windows of 1936 show Christ in the temple, the nativity, and "suffer little children to come unto me", with the three northern missionaries, Saints Cuthbert, Aidan and Chad above the north entrance.

The stone-floored tower has an exposed concrete frame with a striking parabolic concrete arch between it and the original nave, and a pink-painted ceiling reached by an unconcealed iron ladder. The original marble font now stands here. The south aisle has memorial boards for the First and Second World Wars. The north tower lobby contains two small panels of 16th-century Spanish stained glass and doors of limed oak by Pace.