By Jill Trumble

St Mary's parish church in the market place dates back to the early 14th century; the chancel of the old church survives today. Still, records show there was a clergyman here as early as 1190.

The medieval tower and nave were demolished in 1810 and re-built in a pseudo-Gothic style by 1817.

Parish records for Stockport began in 1584, during the reign of Elizabeth I. They had become mandatory in 1538, when Henry VIII was on the throne.

At this time clergy were ordered to keep registers of births, marriages and burials. The decision was not popular among the general populace, who felt that it was just another way of taxing and keeping an eye on them. However, this legislation can be seen as the start of a national census that became formalised in 1801, and today, records from 1841 are readily available for family researchers.

Some of the original registers between 1584-1620 were transcribed, and printed by the local company of Swain & Co. in 1889. Further annotations were added at this time to entries for members of the local prominent families, most likely to confirm their lineage.

Early memorials

Registers

The very first entry in the registers records the baptism of William Davenport on 25th March 1584.

(Image via Stockport Heritage Trust)

Tablets

The church contains many memorial windows and tablets; the earliest is for John Ardern, who died in 1703. This is situated in the Lady Chapel. 'Below the tablet is fixed a rapier having a fluted blade and embossed handle and guard', which is believed to have belonged to him. He is interred beneath this place.

Below are his birth and burial details taken from the parish records. The name Hawarden is a corruption of Harden which was in the township of Bredbury.

Windows

There are thirteen stained glass windows commemorating individuals dating between 1810 and 1905, and one installed in 1996 to commemorate the Royal Artillery Association.

Tablets and windows in St Mary's Church (Images - Stockport Heritage Trust)

The earliest of these is in the chancel. It is dedicated to Ann Newton, wife of James Antrobus Newton, who was an attorney, a magistrate and the steward of Stockport. He was involved with many important changes that took place in Stockport at the beginning of the 19th century.

These included the aforementioned demolition and re-building of St. Mary's parish church and the sale of common lands. The proceeds of the sale were intended to be used to provide a workhouse to relieve the poor and thereby dispense with the need for the poor rate payable by residents. However the majority of the money mysteriously disappeared and even a parliamentary enquiry failed to discover the whereabouts of the funds.

Gravestones

Outside the church, the ground is covered in gravestones. There are many of interest but the earliest dates back only to 1630. This seems to be quite late considering the age of the church; why is it so?

When the tower and nave were demolished in 1810, the tower was reluctant to come down so dynamite was used to blow it up! This caused extensive damage to the surrounding gravestones, many of which can be seen in the image at the beginning of this article.

Some of the stone from the church was repurposed for domestic building materials but the majority of the debris and broken gravestones were used to infill the Carr Valley to form Waterloo Road.

There are many interesting gravestones in the parish graveyard and also in the 'new burying ground' that was created on ground gifted by Lady Warren-Bulkeley in 1810. The remains of this are at the back of the Churchgate car park, now overgrown and fenced off.

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Those interested in learning more about Stockport's heritage can visit the heritage centre Tuesday 11am – 2pm and Saturday 10.30 – 2pm. The centre is situated inside St. Mary's Parish Church, Market Place, on the left hand side past the cafe. 

The heritage trust also opens the former courthouse and dungeon to the public on the second Saturday of every month, from 10.30am until 3.30pm, or when the last visitor leaves.

The trust's website can be found HERE

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