Description
Published to mark the 150th anniversary of Christ Church, Denshaw, it is more than just a history of the church The book traces the history of Denshaw from a small monastic hamlet in the sixteenth century through to the present day. Its growth from a scattered farming community to the emergence of the present village centred on the busy crossroads is described and how with Denshaw now at the centre of an important Turnpike road network it rapidly evolved into a vibrant industrial community with an imposing coaching inn, a calico print works, a village school and shops.
By the 1860s the village only lacked its own church. The Gartside family had their roots here back to the 1400s and were responsible for Denshaw’s growth up to the eve of the industrial revolution. By the early nineteenth century two branches of the family, had acquired enough wealth through trade and manufacture to emerge as local gentry. They were united by the marriage of Mr Henry Gartside, a solicitor and Town Clerk of Ashton-under-Lyne to Mrs Elizabeth Sarah Gartside, daughter of Thomas Gartside, an officer in the Royal Lancashire Militia. Like many other successful Victorians they decided to fund the building of a church in their native village. Its establishment and its fortunes through 150 years are narrated; the clergy, the wealthy families that worshipped here, the mission to the poor navvys that worked on the construction of the reservoirs and lived in huts with their wives and children, the story of the school from its foundations in 1812 through to the present day are all explored. The book is lavishly illustrated in full colour with spectacular photographs of the church’s beautiful stained glass windows.
