St Werburgh's Church, Warburton

St Werburgh's Church is the name of two separate churches in the village of Warburton, Greater Manchester, England. The older church is located to the west of the village, and may date back as early as the middle of the 13th century. It is now a redundant church but services are held in the summer months. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. The authors of the Buildings of England series call this church "a lovable muddle". The newer church was built in 1883–85 and is located to the southeast of the village on the A6144 road. It is a Grade II listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Bowdon. Its benefice is combined with that of St Peter, Oughtrington. The dedication is an unusual one, ordinarily local to Chester, where Werburgh is the patron saint. Werburgh, an Anglo-Saxon saint who has given her name to Warburgtune, as Warburton was called in the Domesday survey (1086), was the daughter of Wulfhere, the first Christian king of Mercia. She died around AD 700 as Abbess of Ely, with the care of several nunneries. Her relics were moved to the abbey of St Peter and St Paul in Chester, which was later rededicated to St Werburgh.