In my first book, Churches of Greater Manchester, I reveal a variety of historic church buildings from across this vast area in the metropolis of Manchester city centre to the more rural settings on the fringes of Lancashire, West Yorkshire and beyond. Illustrated for the most part with my own photographs (thank you to Andy for the contribution of his own photos for All Souls Bolton!) I explore 40 churches dating from the medieval period to the second half of the twentieth century; buildings embellished not only with the finest ecclesiastical art and architecture of their day, but with the cultural memory of their communities as well. 

Within these pages are the tales of a Cathedral underdoing major restoration and reordering, a guided tour of a modernist church with its present incumbent, a record of a struggling church on the brink of closure, and a survey of a now defunct climbing centre in one of Manchester’s largest Victorian churches.

The scope of the buildings included reflects the heritage of Anglican, Roman Catholic and Nonconformist worship and the physical presence of church buildings in the developing towns and suburbs, with specific attention given to recent re-orderings and in some cases where the church has closed, a change of use. 

This book is not a gazetteer of every important church in Greater Manchester, nor is it an exhaustive survey of every church from a particular period of history. But as a handy guide, I hope it does a satisfactory job at presenting a sense of not only the great artistic and architectural heritage to be found in the churches of the Greater Manchester area, but also of their great beauty and historical significance.

You can purchase this book here.