Church of St Cross, Clayton

The land on which the Church of St Cross now stands was originally in the parish of St Mary Droylsden. In the early 1860s the land was gifted to Revd. Charles Henry Lomax by Peter Hoare. The Gothic Revival architect William Butterfield was invited to draw up plans for the new church and construction began in 1862. At the time of construction, Bishop Prince Lee was in charge of Manchester Diocese. Lee, a low churchman, did not take to the ornate decorative style of St Cross and initially refused to consecrate the parish church, despite the opening services happening in 1866. Bishop James Fraser eventually consecrated the church in 1874. Originally, St Cross was built without many stained…

The church is very tall, in Butterfield's trademark red brick, with blue brick and pale stone banding. The style is Middle Pointed. To the south-west, the church has a high tower, "narrow and tall, with slender angle buttresses and a steep pyramidal roof of banded slate, and a gabled south porch with 2-centred arched doorway".