A former Victorian Oldham church which has been closed since the 1980s is set to be demolished.
The local authority has appointed a contractor, D. Hughes Demolition to knock down St John’s Church in Werneth.
The church, on St John’s Street and visible from Featherstall Road South, was founded in 1844 and consecrated in October 1845.
Designed by Edwin Hugh Shellard, it cost £3,026 to build, and closed in 1982.
The church had previously had a strong musical history, with one choirmaster being Charles Walton, father of the composer Sir William Walton, who sang in the church choir age six in around 1908.
From 1955 to 1965 the choirmaster was Herbert Winterbottom who was also head of music at Salford University, and in 1963 the church choir sang on television in an episode of Coronation Street.
A planning application for the demolition has not been publicised to date.
Oldham council’s decision notice over the details demolition tender is also restricted due to financial sensitivity, so the cost of the contract is not yet known.
However in its consideration of alternative options, officers say that not appointing a contractor to knock down the church would leave it responsible for the ‘potential increasing holding costs associated with a derelict/structurally unsafe property’.
“An empty building could also attract anti-social behaviour and increase the risk of vandalism and in doing so cause the building to become an eyesore blighting the local area,” officers add.
A number of former churches in Oldham have been demolished in recent years, with recent applications coming forward for St Anne’s Church in Greenaces, St Mary’s Church and Presbytery on Ruth Street and Sacred Heart RC Church on Whetstone Hill Road.
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