A HISTORIC church which had its foundation stone laid 120 years ago this October is hoping ongoing restoration will ensure it remains standing for another century.

In 1897 scores of parishioners attended the laying ceremony for St Catherine's Church which marked the building of new and much needed church in Horwich.

Today the church continues to serve the community providing, says its vicar, Rev Michael Behrend, practical and spiritual support.

And it enters its milestone year having invested more than £160,000 to restore brickwork, renew pointing, roofing and the fine terracotta features at the west end of the building.

The money to pay for the work came from £133,000 Heritage Lottery grant with Viridor Credits Environmental Company providing£20,000 towards new lighting and £10,599 for roof repairs. A parishioner donated the £2,000 needed to receive Viridor Credits grants.

Now the parish is hopeful that more grant funding will be forthcoming to restore other parts of the historic building for future generations.

The church had initially bid for a quarter of a million pounds in lottery funding, but was unsuccessful although a second application for a smaller sum, to concentrate on renovating parts of the building most in need, went ahead.

Mr Behrend said: "We started work in July 2016 and phase one is practically complete, apart from a few snagging details.

"The complete restoration will require further grant applications.

"Work is not going to be done for another two years, realistically, because that is how long it takes to get some of the funding. But it depends if we get all done at once or little bits at a time."

He added: "I think it has boosted morale that we are getting the church repaired and it will last for a good number of years. The building without repair is like a weight hanging over us, but we are now making progress."

Materials used to construct the church were used again more than a century later to carry out the restoration.

Mr Behrend explained: "The thing with a listed building is that everything has to be replaced with like for like, so when a terracotta block crumbles it has to replaced with terracotta and one terracotta block costs between £300 and £800. Each one is handmade and hand fired.

"Terracotta is very expensive. When the church was built terracotta was fashionable cheap and many people would produce it, but that was 110 years ago."

Today, there is evidence of other parts of the building crumbling and vegetation can be seen growing through some parts of the brickwork, but the vicar is pragmatic. "It will last a little longer," he says.

Now the building is watertight there are plans to decorate the Sunday School and parts of the church interior. But other areas still need restoration work where salt can be seen coming through the walls.

Mr Behrend said: "We will need a similar amount of money to that which we have already received to completed the restoration."

He added that work carried out on the building, "an important symbol of the local community for over 100 years", is a step closer to preserving it for another century.

The church was opened in 1902 to provide for the needs of the many new workers and their families who arrived following the opening of the Horwich Loco Works which dramatically changed a sleepy village to a busy town.

"Thousands of people moved in for the Loco Works and they started the church in various warehouses and the school was actually built and used as a church and school," said Mr Behrend.

"That school was first built for the children of the rail workers, along with Chorley New Road School, which was built at the same time.

“They decided they needed to build their own church — and the final third of it was completed 30 years later.

"The church had a community aspect — all the social events would take place in the church or school. It was the hub of the community.

"There were no televisions and it would be the church or the pub I would guess.

"So it had a sense of community and, of course, the spiritual support enabling people to engage with God."

The church is now getting ready to serve the estimated 1,700 homes expected to be built on the former Loco works site.

Mr Behrend said: "Most of the Loco Works development is likely to be within the St Catherine’s Parish so there will be a lot more houses and a lot more people. Hopefully more will come to church here."

The church, alongside St Catherine’s CE School, continues to be a focal point for the local community, used by several community groups including a popular mother and toddlers club as well as a children’s Sunday club.

Mr Behrend said: "We are sharing the message about Jesus. Part of that is helping practically in anyway we can. We have a grub tub and collect food which goes out via Urban Outreach.

"We still try to do what we can. We are not a massive congregation — some of the elderly people do not have the energy and some of the younger people are too busy as they are in full time jobs.

"But there is a strong loyal core and quite a lot of younger families who come because their children go to St Catherine’s School."

An exhibition in the church traces the history of the building and it will go on display at Horwich Heritage Centre in March.

The church has a restoration fund and would welcome donations.

HISTORY:

In 1881 the population of Horwich was 3761, just ten years later is has grown to 12,850 and it was the need for a church which led to the building of St Catherine’s Church in Richmond Street.

The origins can be traced by to the church mission which was established and met in hayloft off Winter Hey Lane, but this become too small and the fledgling church moved into a larger room above a bakehose in Beatrice Street in 1888.

An inaugural service was held at the Breatrice Street Mission on August 5.

A new combined church and school opened on January 1890 in Richmond Street and this land, where St Catherine’s Court now stands, became the site of St Catherine’s School, which remained there until the new new school was opened just down the road in Greenstone Avenue, 2003

As the church outgrew the school building, it met for a while in a warehouse, before returning to an enlarged school building on Richmond Street.

It was then decided to build an entirely separate church building on the west side of Richmond Street.

The building was designed by Richard Knill Freeman and the foundation stone was laid in 1897.

St Catherine’s Church opened in 1902 only two-thirds complete because, despite fundraising and donations, there was insufficient money to complete the design, so a temporary chancel was built at the east end.

In 1910 St Catherine’s formally became a parish church within its own parish church within its own parish.

Further improvements to the building were made in 1912 but it was not until 1932 that the temporary chancel at the east end was replaced with a new chancel, Lady Chapel, organ Chamber and Clergy Vestry designed by Frank Freeman, the son of Richard Knill Freeman.