SD8103 : St Mary's Church, Prestwich
taken 14 years ago, near to Prestwich, Bury, England
The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin is a Grade I listed building (Historic England List Entry Number: 1067252 Link ). It is built in local Lancashire red sandstone.
There has been a church on this site since at least 1200, but it is almost impossible to give an age for the present structure. The irregularity of the height of the arches, and the fact that the pillars are not opposite to one another indicates different dates of building. The earliest part of the present building is the tower, which was built in the late 15th century on the site of what is thought to have been an Anglo-Saxon place of worship. The main body of the church seems to have been rebuilt in the early 16th century.
Archive Link for a fuller history.
The Church is a popular choice with the makers of TV soap opera “Coronation Street” and has been used as the setting for several big storylines, including weddings and funerals, in the fictitious parish of “Weatherfield” (Archive Link Manchester Evening News 7 Sept 2006. Archived August 2020)