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Holy Cross Church

In December 1999 the daughter church of St. Andrew's was closed after serving the area around Deansgate Lane since 1929, though services had been held before this in St. Andrew's Day School and Mission House since 1888. The congregation of St. Andrew's joined the congregation of nearby St. Catherine's whilst a new church was being built.

St. Catherine's church, opened in 1969 as a multipurpose building, is now Holy Cross church hall used for social events and is also let out to other groups. A small chapel, part of the St. Catherine's building, has been retained and is now called The Chapel of St. Andrew and St. Catherine to carry on the names of the original churches.
 
  The new church, replacing both St. Andrew's and St. Catherine's, is named Holy Cross Church, and was opened for its first service, a Confirmation service, on 6th May 2001 and was consecrated by the Bishop of Chester on 16th September 2001.

Holy Cross is built on land adjacent to the church hall. It is of a modern, innovative design by architects Nick Rank and Mark Pierce of Buttress Fuller Alsop Williams and the builder was David Flannagan of Kingsmere Construction. The main structure is steel framed with blockwork infill and has a wooden roof clad in stainless steel. External walls are rendered in roughcast terracotta. A circular baptistry tower on the south east corner is of clear glass in an oak frame. Internally the structural steelwork has been angled to complement the unusual angles of the roof to create a focus towards the altar in the north east corner of the church. The stone font from St Andrew's church is set on a circle of green Cumberland slate. The rest of the floor is of polished oak.

The new church is linked to the hall by a corridor which has the vestry, flower vestry, disabled toilet, store room and the boiler room for the underfloor heating. Click for details of:
Christ Church

Holy Cross  - The Baptistry
Interior of Holy Cross Church Baptistry, with former St. Andrew's Font
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