I had a visitor today, Brian Longden, a gentleman who had once been in the choir at Old St Georges Church. He brought around a few photos for me to copy and share on the blog. Wasn’t that kind? I’ll also add the photos to the relevant posts about the church and churchyard but wanted to get them up now so that regular reader can see them straight away.
Above is the third, and final, Old St Georges Church, Cockerhill. The photo was taken pre 1939 as the churchyard railings are shown and these were taken down and smelted in World War II. I love the street lamp. Cocker Hill still has a number of old street lamps, but none as nice as this.
Above is the same church building. I think this photo was taken in the late 1960s just before demolition. The illuminated cross, shining out over Stalybridge was well known at the time. Someone recently commented on facebook that they were glad when the church and the cross were demolished as they interfered with the TV reception locally!
This is the interior of the church, it’s very grand isn’t it. The windows must have looked spectacular. I understand that the choir were either side of the pulpit, male choristers on one side women on the other.
This font has now been moved to New St Georges Church, but is pictured here in its original home at Old St Georges.
NOTE Photos copied and reproduced by kind permission of Brian Longden.
As usual, please read the comments below and add your own if you have any memories of or connections to Old St Georges Church or Cocker Hill in general. I’d love to hear from you.
Thanks
Cocker Hill, Stalybridge 