St. Peter’s Memorial Cross – Manchester, UK - Christian Crosses on Waymarking.com

The church had been erected at a time when the population of Manchester had grown quite rapidly, At that time this was on the edge of Manchester and there was plenty of open land and fields nearby.

As time moved on Manchester expanded and many of the fields built upon, but at the same time the population of Manchester was actually falling. This paradox can be explained by the fact that as the wealth of the city increased many people moved out of the city and into the suburbs with better housing.

When it was decided to demolish the church it was decided that as the area around the church had been developed it would be a good idea to keep an open space in an otherwise crowded area.

The area became known as St. Peter’s Square and the trustees of the church commissioned the church architect, Temple Moore to provide a memorial cross on the site of the church altar. The resultant design is a 10 metres high gothic cross made out of Portland Stone. It stands on a 2.1 metres wide pedestal and was unveiled on 29th September 1908.

Halfway up the main column of the cross there are angels holding a shield showing the keys of St. Peter.

The cross has been designated a Grade II listed building by English Heritage. (Reference number 1270696) (visit link)

Since the erection of the cross there has been further building and the area is not as open as it once was. The cross itself stands in a small grassed area with hedges. Just to the South West there now stands a large cenotaph erected after the First World War and other small war memorials.

There is also St. Peter’s tram stop on one side of the cross placed there when the Manchester light rail tram system opened in 1992.

Work is underway to extend the tram system so in the near future there will be a second line on the other side of the garden. However the cenotaph is to be moved which will open up that end of the gardens.

I have extracted information form (visit link)

Type of cross: Celtic cross Material used: Stone (granite, sandstone, marble, ...) Characteristics of this cross: 10 metres high Portland stone Gothic style cross. Halfway up the column are angels with shields displaying the Cross of St. Peter. Describe the location: In a small garden in St. Peter's Square with seating. One side of the square is a tram stop called St. Peter's Square. The other side is currently a road with traffic, but work is about to start on installing a second tram line. Year of manufacture: 09/29/1908 Is this cross commemorative ?: Yes

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Date Logged Log User Rating   07/11/2024 new.neo visited it 09/07/2019 prussel visited it

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