Statement Of Significance
Statement of Need

Statement of Significance

The Setting of the Church

How does the setting out of the church contribute to its landscape / townscape value and to its significance?

1. St Paul’s Church is not a listed building but holds a prominent position on Ashton Road, the main route between Oldham and Ashton-under-Lyne.
2. The church is Victorian, being built in 1879-80.
3. It has some attractive stained glass, including the East window, which is also a first world war memorial. The Grade II listed organ is also a war memorial, built in memory of those who died in the First World War, restored in memory of those who died in the Second World War.
4. It serves an area known for cultural and ethnic diversity, and high deprivation, and is valued as a place of community activity for diverse groups from within the area, and as a significant part of the heritage of the area’s built environment.
5. The S. side of the churchyard, as a Community Garden, is a gathering point for a number of members of the community, and receives a heavy footfall.

The Living Churchyard

What is the significance of the natural heritage of the site?

The churchyard has little significance due to its small size, although the South side does contribute to the greenery in the area, and contains two significant, sizeable trees.

The North side consists of a sloping, paved area, which doesn't get much light. It has been fenced off to reduce anti-social behaviour.

Social History

What is the historic and present use of the church and churchyard by the congregation and wider community? How does this contribute to its significance?

The Parish of St. Paul, Oldham is known for cultural variety and high deprivation. The building is valued as a place of community activity for diverse groups from within the area.

It comprises of a number of highly deprived LSOAs (Lower Super Output Areas), listed in rough order of proximity to the church, where the lower numbers are the most deprived:

In the 2011 Census, 60% of those who live in parish non-white British5 . Local evidence would indicate that there has been a large influx of Eastern European Roma and black African people since then.

The parish is part of a United Benefice with St. Thomas, Werneth, which has completed a re-order to enable community use. In partnership, the two parishes hope to extend their ministry of combatting poverty and isolation among deprived, isolated members of the parish; and bringing people together from different ethnic, geographical and religious backgrounds. We hope to provide: more English Classes, Holiday Activities, a range of training opportunities, Arts & Crafts, etc.

St. Paul's Church Services are attended by approximately 35-40 adults, and 10 children. There is a single weekly service on a Sunday morning. There is a Choir and a Sunday School. The congregation is increasingly diverse, with a growing number of black African families. There are about 10 funerals, 20 baptisms, and 1-2 weddings each year

St. Paul's Narthex Room is well-used on a weekly basis, especially by those groups of the community that are often considered “hard to reach” by statutory organisations: Roma Romanian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women, asylum seekers. Many activities are well-attended. The church is trusted by these minority groups and the building considered a safe space: + Pop-in has been running for over 20 years, and provides a meeting point for the elderly and housebound. + Guides has been running for over 20 years, and provides a safe meeting place for girls and young women. + Stitch & Share has been running for over 10 years, providing a meeting point for women across the community where they can support each other - not least with their sewing skills. + Bethel Roma Pentecostal Church meets two or three times a week. The church is also used as a venue for voting in elections; and for training delivered to staff at Boston House (on the opposite side of Broadway Street).

The church grounds are well used by the local community as a place for meeting, or sitting.

The church building in general

Provide a description of the church.

The church is considered a landmark building in the Oldham Rochdale HMR Pathfinder Heritage Assessment – Executive Summary which also recommends it be considered for listed status:

the scale and massing of buildings of townscape value often provide the setting for the buildings of clear or high heritage value ...It is assumed that the status of St Paul’s Church and the Congregational Chapel as landmark buildings are such as to ensure their retention.

The building is described as a “major landmark, with Oldham-wide impact”. The report lists four local landmarks to be considered for listing, of which one (Maple Mill) has since been destroyed by fire. Similarly, of the six “Major Landmarks” identified, only St. Paul’s and two towers of Belgrave Mill remain. (p13 Pathfinder Heritage Assessment 2007 )

The church building in detail

Assess the significance of either each historical phase of the building or of each area within it. For example, north aisle, south chancel elevation, Norman tower

Architectural Features

The church has an entry in Manchester And The South-East:

ST PAUL, Ashton Road, Hathershaw. 1879-80 by Wild & Collins. The w end has tall cusped lancets. Clerestory with roundels incorporating alternating quatrefoil, S-shape and star motifs. Low aisles with paired lancets. Unexecuted sw tower. (p547 Manchester And The South-East by Clare Hartwell, Matthew Hyde, and Nikolaus Pevsner Yale University Press, 2004)

The stunning East Window, also a War Memorial, is strangely omitted from this description, depicting Christ standing by a lake in a recognisable Oldham context, among ex-servicemen and the land army, male and female. (A reference to John 21?)

Organ

The organ is also omitted from the entry: it is now “listed” by the British Institute of Organ Studies at Grade II:

An unusually conservative and well-maintained instrument of local significance built by Wadsworth in 1919 as the firm ceased to produce new organs. It is therefore listed in the Institute’s Register of Hisotric Pipe Organs as being an instrument of importance to the national heritage and one deserving careful preservation for the benefit of future generations.

It has an entry in the National Pipe Organ Register.

The Pews

The Nave is almost completely covered with Pews. At most there is a 1.5 metre wide gap without pews. This considerably limits the flexibility of the nave as a worship space, and forces people to sit in rows.

Narthex Room / Community Room

This was built at the West end of the nave in the early 1970s. It was built on a budget, without drawing on the aesthetic quality of the architectural features (the arches are boarded up; the West Window is cut in half by a false ceiling; the lack of glass reduces light in Room and Church); key features are shoe-horned into the available space (toilets and kitchen); there was no sound-proofing of the new wall. The toilets are only accessible through the Room, so the building can only be used for one activity at a time. It looks worn and tired.

Significance for Mission

What are the strengths of the building as it is for worship and mission? What potential for adapted and new uses does the church and its setting already have with little or no change?

The building is well-placed on a main road, highly visible, but also relates to the immediate community. For example many people in the locality naturally gather in the church grounds, or on the pavement outside.

Two adjacent churches have closed in the last 10 years: St. Cuthbert, Fitton Hill; and St. Mark with Christ Church, Glodwick.

Removal of the pews would allow for a more flexible worship space.

Despite the limitations of the reorder, the Narthex Room is reasonably well-used by community groups.

Adaptations would enable the Room to be used independently of the church; and could provide for more servicable toilets and kitchen, and allow the room to be enlarged.

The significance of the area affected by the proposal.

Identify the parts of the church and/or churchyard which will be directly or indirectly affected by your proposal.