Trafford Park - St Antony’s Roman Catholic Junior School

St Antony’s Roman Catholic Junior School was built in 1912/1913, to meet the educational needs of the growing Catholic community in Trafford Park. Today, it is one of a very small number of historic buildings to survive in the area and although no longer a school, it is the home of the St Antony’s Centre and Trafford Park Heritage Centre. It occupies a prominent location at the junction of Eleventh Street and Third Avenue.

The opening of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 made Trafford Park a prime site for industrial development. It was easily accessible by road, water and rail. By the late 1890s, Trafford Park had started to attract many big-name companies, including American firms, the first of which was British Westinghouse, a subsidiary of the American firm of George Westinghouse, which arrived in Trafford Park, between 1899 and 1902.

In 1899, Trafford Park Dwellings Ltd was formed. It set about constructing a residential development to house workers for the growing number of factories, since it was clear that although there was a sizeable workforce in the vicinity of the ‘Park’, there would be large numbers of men and women arriving from other areas, seeking employment. Amenities were brought to the area including shops, churches, schools and a police station and by 1904, 730 houses had been built. By 1907, it was estimated that the population of the Village was 3,060.

The first churches and schools were hurriedly put up in corrugated iron. In 1901, a new mission, dedicated to St. Antony of Padua, was established to serve the Roman Catholic community in the Village. A corrugated iron church or 'tin tabernacle' was erected on Eleventh Street. It was described as an oasis of spiritual refreshment in the churning mass of trade and manufacture. Father James Thomson was sent to take charge. The Church also had a schoolhouse of the same construction.

Father Thomson was keen to have a Roman Catholic school built in the area, but he was met with opposition from Stretford Education Authority. When Father Cornelius Hughes took over as Rector in 1908, he and the Catholic community continued the fight for a new school and eventually their determination paid off, when plans were finally approved. 

In 1912, a notice of intention was submitted to Stretford Urban District Council, by the architectural firm, W. T. Gunson & Son, regarding the building of a new Roman Catholic school.

The Stretford Telegraph newspaper dated 29 November 1912 reported:

The school is being built in the latest style, the improved 'corridor system'.  It will contain five classrooms, cloak rooms and two teacher rooms. The school will be a mixed one and so built that if necessary three additional classrooms can be added at any time, to make a school accommodating 274 children. Ventilation will be on the latest system and there will be electric lighting and hot water radiators. It is to be completed in March. Messrs. W. T. Gunson are the architects and Thorpe and Sons are the builders

William Telford Gunson was born on 18 November 1839 at East Rainton, near Houghton-le-Spring, Co. Durham. He was the son of William Wilson Gunson, a coal miner and his wife Sarah Telford. He attended the Durham School of Art before serving articles with a firm in London. William qualified as a civil engineer, architect and surveyor and moved to Manchester where he joined the City Surveyors Office.

In 1873, he entered into partnership with Richard Liron Mestayer. Their office was at Mansfield Chambers, St Anns Square, Manchester and by 1878, they had moved to Marsden Street, Manchester. When Richard moved to Australia, William worked for a while on his own, before forming a partnership with his son, Ernest Gunson in 1891. His many commissions included the Buxton Gas Works, Hyde Reform Club, Lytham Pier and Pavilion as well as several county police stations, Prestwich Union Tramp Wards and Salford Workhouse. William died at Blackpool in 1924.

William’s son, Ernest Gunson, was born in Manchester in 1869 and was educated at Manchester Grammar School. He served his articles with his father from 1886-89, remaining as his assistant from 1889-91.  Following a brief spell of independent practice, he was accepted as a partner and the firm became W. Telford Gunson and Son in late 1891. Ernest retired to Birkdale, Southport and died there in 1940.

St Antony’s Roman Catholic Junior School opened on 31 March 1913 at a cost of £2,600 which was to be met by voluntary contributions. The number of children admitted was 132 and the first Headteacher was Miss Mary Hawes.

Industrial decline in Trafford Park set in during the 1960s and over the next decade, housing in the area was largely demolished. In the initial phase of clearance in the mid-1970s, 298 houses were pulled down. This was followed by the further demolition of over 325 houses in the early 1980s, leaving behind only the largest structures. As a result, the area lost its population. St Antony’s School closed its doors in 1982 as the number of pupils had dwindled. The last Headteacher was Sheila Dickinson. 

It had been the intention to replace the original corrugated iron church of St Antony with a more substantial structure, but plans were never realised. It was, however, partially rebuilt and refurbished in 1994, but the unique 'tin tabernacle' church remains to this day. It is one of the oldest in the country still in use, although regular services ceased in 2009.

The Centre for Church & Industry, founded by Kevin Flanagan in 1979, was originally established in St Antony’s Presbytery, as a joint project with Fr Joe Carter, the Parish Priest of St Antony’s Church. 

When St Antony’s school closed, there were fears that the building would be demolished. Father Carter and Kevin Flanagan applied to move their work from the presbytery into the old school building. Bishop Holland gave his blessing, and the old school building was saved for community and parish use.

Money was raised for repairs to the building and a large meeting room was created. This was to become the new St Antony's Centre. The Centre went from strength to strength and launched its first government funded training programme the following year and a job creation scheme.

In 1993, the former school building closed for re-development with the Centre moving temporarily to premises on Third Avenue. The Centre re-opened its doors in January 1994 as a purpose-built facility. It also contains the Trafford Park Heritage Centre, which is dedicated to preserving the story of Trafford Park and houses an exhibition with artefacts and archive material back to 1896.

Further research

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

Sources

St Antony’s Centre and Trafford Park Heritage Centre - special thanks to Kevin Flanagan

Building Plan of new St Antony’s Roman Catholic Junior School – Trafford Local Studies collection cat ref: PLA/2/STR/1913/2/2364/

Trafford Lifetimes

Stretford Telegraph dated 29 November 1912

Ordnance Survey map CXIII.16 dated 1927

Manchester Studies, Manchester Polytechnic - Trafford Park 1900 – 1939

Karen Cliff and Pat Southern - Trafford Park

Robert Nicholls – Trafford Park: The First Hundred Years

The Catholic Times and Catholic Opinion

Salford Diocese and its Catholic past, a survey by Charles Bolton (published 1950).

Architects of Greater Manchester 1800 - 1940. https://manchestervictorianarchitects.org.uk

William Telford Gunson (1839-1924) - Cumbrian Lives - Towards a Dictionary of Cumbrian Biography

Taking Stock Catholic Churches of England and Wales

University of Salford Local Heritage Listing Project. Trafford Park Gazeteer