These steps on Wellington Street are all that remain of what was the largest Sunday School in the world.
The Stockport Sunday school was founded in 1784. In 1805, £6000 pounds was raised from subscription, and a school large enough to accommodate 5000 scholars was built on London Square. The school belonged to the town rather than a particular church. The building, austere in design, was 132 feet in length and 57 feet in width. The ground floor and first story were each divided into 12 rooms; the second story was fitted up for assembling the whole of the children for public worship, or on other occasions; having two tiers of windows, and a gallery on each side extending about half the length of the building. In order to aid both the hearing and sight in this long room, the floor rose in an inclined plane about half way. There was also an orchestra with an organ behind the pulpit.
Despite the buildings being listed as a National Monument they were demolished around 1970.
Further information can be found on Wikipedia.
A contribution to Shadow Shot Sunday and Inspired Sundays.
Yet another iconic building lost in Stockport Gerald. Stockport Council were also hell-bent on demolishing the Plaza as well as our 15th C Staircase House [saved by Stockport Heritage Trust, although this charity doesn't even get a mention within].
ReplyDeleteSadly, no lessons have been learned in this town and we are still allowing very old important historical buildings to be demolished.
Phil................
Stockport Heritage Trust.
A shame the buildings got torn down... just from the look of the staircase, the school facilities would have been worth saving.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pity that the building was not saved. The council seems to have a particularly destructive mindset.
ReplyDelete«Louis» posted Stanford Memorial Church and included a musical setting of the Psalm appointed for Palm Sunday, Psalm 24.
Thank you for sharing these photographs of a lost building of great importance to Stockport. I visited the old steps a year or so ago with an evacuee, Mavis Brown, who was sent there in 1940 Mavis remembers arriving at the Sunday school, on 22 or 23 June 1940, with her mother and around 200 evacuees from Jersey and Guernsey. She told me, "It had beautiful stained glass windows, (one of which is still preserved in the Stockport Story Museum). People were very kind to us, however, the only washing facilities were the sinks in the toilets! We stayed there for three weeks, sleeping on old mattresses and when we left, to be billeted with a local family, we found that we had lice and fleas. My mother was very embarrassed about this."
ReplyDeletethe steps stand are reminder. they in themselves are lovely with all the foliage growing around.
ReplyDeleteSad that old buildings get demolished, but I know they can become unrepairable sometimes.
ReplyDeleteHow sad it is no longer there! Very interesting post!
ReplyDeleteSunday School somthing I never had the pleasure of. I heardo fit as a kid and it filled me with dread. They must be far and few between now.
ReplyDeleteMany happy memories of SSS, I lived there from 1956 to 1964 as my father was the caretaker.
ReplyDeleteMy Mother, born Longsight 1926 but brought up in Stockport at 32 Greek Street and later on Heaviley at 25 Hallam Street, remembered Stockport Sunday School well. There were concerts there and she heard the pianist Eileen Joyce play. She also sang there in the Maia Ladies Choir. If I can find the concert programmes she kept, I'll supply a few more details. I remember the building but by then it was derelict.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Hibbert
I remember sitting the second half of my Scholarship (11 plus) there in 1946.
ReplyDelete