St Peter's Church, Manchester

Around the 1780s, Manchester's population was beginning to expand, and as the Industrial Revolution increased prosperity, there was a growth of church building in the town. St Peter's Church was established to provide a place of Christian worship for the town's expanding population. The Manchester Mercury of 9 December 1788 recorded: "We hear that the first stone of an intended new church in this town, to be called St, Peter's will be laid on Thursday next. The building is to be executed in stone after designs drawn by James Wyatt, Esq., of London, and wholly conducted under the direction of that eminent architect. There is therefore every reason to expect that this church, when completed…

The architect James Wyatt was commissioned to build the church. He designed it in a Neoclassical Doric order Greek Revival style, built of Runcorn sandstone. The church was oriented in a northeast-southwest alignment, and at the northern end was a portico supported by Doric columns. When the church opened, it lacked any sort of steeple. Wyatt's original intention was to erect a dome, in keeping with his Doric Order design, but this scheme was rejected in favour of a bell tower, erected in 1824 by the architect Francis Goodwin. ]] The interior of the church was said to be dark on account of the high windows. Writing in 1804, the writer Joseph Aston praised Wyatt's design, commenting, "The…