A short history of the church
1876
Sunday School established by members of St Alban’s Church in an empty shop on the corner of what is now Roch Valley Way.
1883
St Alban’s Mission Room built at Howarth Street, Sudden. The building was enlarged in 1911 and was in use as a Sunday School and meeting place for St Aidan’s until demolition for the new motorway link in 1970.
1897
St Aidan’s Mission Church, off Bolton Road Marland designed by Edgar Wood and built by largely voluntary labour as a mission church to All Souls’ Church, Captain Fold, Heywood. The Mission Church was handed over to the new parish in 1908 and was in use as a Sunday School until the 1940’s. The building was demolished in 1960.
1906
First movement towards the setting up of a new parish when the Vicars of St. Alban’s, Rochdale, All Souls’, Heywood and St. Martin’s, Castleton, sanctioned the division of their parishes
February 1908
Conventional District of St Aidan, Sudden formed
1910
First design for St Aidan’s Church submitted by TempleMooreto be built on a plot of land on Bolton Road. This plot was found to be unsuitable and the plan was modified.
18th October 1913
St Luke’s Day
Foundation Stone laid by Beatrice, Lady Rochdale
24th March 1915
Consecration of St Aidan’s Church by the Lord Bishop of Manchester, Bishop Knox
Whit Friday 1925
Open air service led from the outside pulpit by Hartley Harrison
1931
Tower completed as a tribute to Hartley Harrison, first Vicar of St Aidan’s
11th May 1946
East Window designed by Harry Grylls and consecrated as a memorial dedicated to members of the Parish who lost their lives in the two world wars
1952
Father Willis Organ installed and dedicated
1971
Church Hall built. Designed by Thomas Worthington & Sons of Manchester. The commemorative stones of the Sudden and Marland Missions are built into the wall of the building.
1984-2008
Rev GC Dobbs, Vicar of St Aidan’s
2010
Completion of major repairs to the church roof facilitated by a Heritage Lottery Grant
THE CACHE
the headline co ords will take you to a place outside the church building where you will find a phone number,use this number to work out the final co ords.
the first number is A and so on through to k.
the cache can be found at N53 35 J,J,K W002 10.E+B,I,C+A.
Please re hide well as the final location is frequently used by dog walkers and local youths.
“If anybody would like to expand this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first at churchmicro@gmail.com so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication.
There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page found via the Bookmark list”