5/5 hebbe w. 2 years ago on Google
The
Hidden
Gem,
officially
St
Mary's
Catholic
Church,
is
a
church
on
Mulberry
Street,
Manchester,
England.
The
parish
dates
back
to
1794,
with
devotion
to
St
Mary,
Our
Lady
of
the
Assumption,
however
the
church
was
rebuilt
in
1848.
Externally,
the
Hidden
Gem
is
built
of
plain
red
brick,
with
an
ornate
bell
tower,
stone-dressed
church
windows,
and
an
entrance
marked
out
with
a
fine
stone
doorway,
which
is
finely
carved
and
depicts
two
Angelic
Hosts
bearing
a
medallion
of
Agnus
Dei.
A
hand
above
forms
the
sign
of
the
Ascension
of
Christ.
The
inscription
is
"Ascendamus
in
montem
Domini.
Et
adoremus
in
loco
Sancto
eius"
a
construction
of
two
bible
verses:
"Come,
let
us
go
up
to
the
mountain
of
the
Lord",(Isaiah
2:3)
and
"Praise
Him
in
His
Holy
places".
(Psalms
150:1)
Internally,
there
is
majestic
Victorian
carving.
The
High
Altar
is
made
of
marble,
finely
carved
and
life
size
images
of
Our
Lady,
St
Stephen,
St
Patrick,
St
Peter,
St
John,
St
Hilda,
St
Augustine
and
St
Joseph.
Central
to
this
above
the
tabernacle
is
Christ
bearing
the
Sacred
Heart.
The
Stations
of
the
Cross
were
painted
in
1994
by
artist
Norman
Adams
and
are
in
a
striking
expressionist
style.
The
first
permanent
Catholic
Mass
Centre
to
be
opened
in
Manchester
following
the
Reformation
was
dedicated
to
St
Chad,
the
Rook
Street
chapel
which
opened
in
1774
serviced
about
600
people
coming
from
as
far
away
as
Bolton,
Glossop
and
Macclesfield.
In
the
following
years,
with
the
advent
of
the
Industrial
Revolution,
Catholic
families
from
Ireland
were
attracted
to
the
cotton
industry
in
Manchester.
This
chapel
remained
in
use
until
it
was
destroyed
by
fire
in
1846.
St
Chad's
then
moved
to
its
own
purpose
built
church
in
Cheetham
Hill.
In
the
mid
1790s,
the
rector
of
St
Chad's,
Father
Rowland
Broomhead
decided
to
set-up
a
second
chapel
in
Manchester,
he
purchased
a
plot
of
land
near
Deansgate
and
quickly
set
about
the
task
of
building
a
new
church,
which
opened
30
November
1794,
dedicated
to
St
Mary.
Contrary
to
popular
local
myth,
St
Mary's
was
never
built
in
secret
or
to
be
hidden,
in
fact
the
opening
was
announced
in
the
local
newspapers
and
Mulberry
Street
in
the
1790s
was
a
busy
residential
and
commercial
thoroughfare
opening
out
onto
Deansgate.
In
1833,
the
rector
of
the
Hidden
Gem,
Father
Henry
Gillow,
decided
that
the
building
was
looking
tired.
He
enlisted
the
help
of
some
of
the
congregation
to
have
the
church
re-roofed
and
re-decorated.
It
was
to
be
tremendous
folly
not
to
have
had
the
work
overseen
by
a
master
builder.
At
lunchtime
on
8
August
1835,
a
strange
breaking
sound
could
be
heard.
On
looking
up
people
were
alarmed
to
see
a
crack
forming
in
the
dome
above
the
altar.
The
church
was
locked
up
and
at
11
pm
the
whole
dome
and
part
of
the
roof
collapsed,
damaging
much
of
the
interior
of
the
church.
Services
were
moved
to
Lloyd
Street,
and
the
search
started
for
a
new
site
for
the
church.
Father
Gillow
died
in
the
Manchester
typhus
epidemic
of
1837.
Any
plans
for
a
new
site
were
put
on
hold,
and
the
decision
was
taken
to
rebuild
St
Mary's
on
the
existing
site.
Two
architects
were
consulted,
Richard
Lane,[citation
needed]
the
architect
of
Salford
Town
Hall
and
the
Friends
Meeting
House,
and
Augustus
Pugin.
Richard
Lane's
design
was
chosen
at
a
cost
of
£265
17s
0d.[citation
needed]
(Pugin
had
been
paid
£138
3s
6d).
The
architect
chosen
to
oversee
the
work
was
Matthew
Ellison
Hadfield,
who
later
went
on
to
build
Salford
Cathedral
and
the
new
St
Chad's
Church
in
Cheetham
Hill.
St
Mary's
Church
was
entirely
demolished
and
the
new
St
Mary's
was
formally
opened
in
October
1848.
The
church's
design
is
a
blend
of
Norman,
Gothic
and
Byzantine
detail;
Pugin
himself
said
that
the
building
"shows
to
what
depth
of
error
even
good
men
fall,
when
they
go
whoring
after
strange
styles."
