Urmston - English Martyrs Church

It has been estimated that Urmston had a dozen Roman Catholic churches at the end of the 18^th century. When the township of Urmston began to grow in the 1880s, a group of local residents started gathering for worship at a small school at Flixton Road known as Wheetman’s School.

The Catholic community of Urmston grew out of the Parish of All Saints in Barton and later became the Parish of English Martyrs. In 1890, a plot of land was bought in the nearby Roseneath Road by Monsignor Canon Kershaw of All Saints Church, and by 1893 a small iron church was built on the site, paid for by Lady Anette de Trafford.

Later a new brick-built church was constructed around the existing iron church, and the old construction was demolished from inside. The foundation stone of the new church was laid on the 24^th of May 1913 by Bishop John Vaughan, and the church was formally opened on the 25^th of January 1914.

The new church was named the English Martyrs Church. It was built in Romanesque style with round arches, symmetrical architectural elements, white-headed bricks mixed with red-coloured bricks and terracotta mouldings. It had seating for 300 people.

The church was designed by a Davyhulme-born architect Henry Oswald William Hill and built by a local builder Joseph Spark. Its reported construction costs totalled £2,573, of which £1,000 was a dept that burdened the parish for the next thirty years. Donations and social events gradually covered the costs, although many parishioners found it difficult to contribute much even for this worthy cause.

The Historical Building Plan Collection at Trafford Local Studies holds architectural building plans of the church from 1911 to 1913. The earliest plans, dated October 1911, show a block plan of the existing church and proposed new drains for the new building. Plans from October 1912 and from February and March 1913 show beautifully drawn designs for the new Romanesque-style building, with detailed elevation, section and floor plans, and a block plan illustrating how the new church would be built to cover part of the existing iron church. The plans also include inspection notices for various stages of the building work.

The plans dated May 1913, show further detailed elevation, section and floor plans, including decorative elements, mouldings and quoins on the outside walls. Contrasting coloured quoins – bricks or stone blocks at the corners of a building’s walls – were often used in Romanesque-style churches to create alternating patters. They were initially used to provide strength and support but later became mostly decorative. The plans for the English Martyrs Church show them as well, although without detailed colours.

The architect Henry Oswald Willian (Harry) Hill was born in 1888 in Davyhulme, the son of Oswald Charles Hill, also an architect from Manchester, and Mary Josephine Hill. He studied at St Bede’s College in Whalley Range from 1897 to 1904 and was later accepted to study architecture at Manchester University. He graduated at the top of his class and continued his father’s architectural practice at 9 Albert Square in Manchester in 1911.

He designed several churches and schools, but his career was interrupted by the First World War. He enlisted in 1915, with the Royal Flying Corps and was awarded the Military Cross before being tragically killed on the 21^st of October 1917 at Lombaertzyde in Belgium when his plane crashed behind the enemy lines.

His Commanding Officer wrote in a letter to his widow, stating: “He was exceedingly brave and good, liked and respected by all.” His name is recorded on the Flying Services Memorial at Arras.

His architectural practice at 9 Albert Square was continued by Henry Sandy in 1918, under the name Hill Sandy and Norris.

The English Martyrs Church continues to serve the residents of Urmston and is today part of the Parish of St John Henry Newman. The parish was formed in 2019 in the Diocese of Salford, and it comprises the former parishes of English Martyrs, Our Lady of the Rosary and St. Monica’s. The English Martyrs Church serves as the Mother Church of the parish.

Further research

You can find more building plans and archival records using the Trafford Local Studies catalogue

Sources

Books:

Cliff, Karen & Masterson, Vicki, Images of England. Urmston, Flixton and Davyhulme (Tempus Publishing Ltd: Wiltshire, 2000).

Trafford Library Service, Local History Pack 1: Urmston, Section 6. Religion. 1980. Trafford Local Studies cat ref 91374464.

Billington, Michael, Urmston, Flixton and Davyhulme: A Postcard Heritage (Epona Publications, 2022).

Maps:

OS, Lancashire Sheet CX.3, 1928.

Building Plans:

English Martyrs Church, Roseneath Road, Urmston. Trafford Local Studies collection, cat. ref. PLA/2/URM/1911/1/835

Addition to English Martyrs Church, Roseneath Road, Urmston. Trafford Local Studies collection, cat. ref. PLA/2/URM/1912/1/847

Addition to Church of English Martyrs, Roseneath Road, Urmston. Trafford Local Studies collection, cat. ref. PLA/2/URM/1913/2/852

Addition of 2nd part of Church of English Martyrs, Roseneath Road, Urmston. Trafford Local Studies collection, cat. ref. PLA/2/URM/1913/2/854

Pamphlets:

Urmston Churches, 1967. Trafford Local Studies cat ref 80511589.

English Martyrs Urmston, 1913-1966. Trafford Local Studies cat ref 526673.

Photographs:

English Martyrs Church, Flixton Road, Urmston, 1913. Trafford Local Studies cat ref TL/0510.

Newspaper Articles:

Catholic Times and Catholic Opinion, Blessing and Laying the Foundation Stone of the New Church, 23 May 1913, p 1.

Nottingham and Midland Catholic News, New Church at Urmston, Manchester, 31 January 1914.

Building News and Engineering Journal, 20 February 1914, p. 262.

Websites:

GENUKI: Our Lady and the English Martyrs, Urmston, Roman Catholic, Lancashire

History of the Parish - St John Henry Newman Parish website

Roman Catholic Church of the English Martyrs. Roseneath Road Urmston - Building | Architects of Greater Manchester

Henry Oswald Hill - Architect | Architects of Greater Manchester

Captain HENRY OSWALD WILLIAM HILL

Captain Henry Oswald William Hill | Imperial War Museums

Hill Sandy and Norris - Partnership | Architects of Greater Manchester