SALFORD HUNDRED 



Birch chapel) was built south of the extended chancel 

 and at the east end of the south (Lever) chapel, which 

 was rebuilt two years later. In 1882-3 the tower 

 was underpinned and repaired, the roof of the nave 

 restored, and new roofs put on the north and south 

 aisles, and in 1888-9 the Wilton (north) chapel was 

 rebuilt, and a chancel with organ chamber and vestry 

 on the north side erected, eastward of the line of the 

 original church. 11 



The building is constructed of red sandstone, which 

 has been considerably renewed from time to time, and 

 the roofs are covered with stone slates. Those of the 

 original structure, including the aisles, have over- 

 hanging eaves, but the north and south chapels had 

 straight parapets, and these have been retained in the 

 rebuilding, and are also used in the new chancel and 

 buildings north of it. The chancel has a clearstory, 

 and the roof is slightly higher than that of the nave. 

 The organ-chamber on the north is of the full height 



PRESTWICH WITH 

 OLDHAM 



orders, on octagonal piers with chamfered bases but 

 without capitals, the inner order dying into the pier 

 at a height of 1 5 ft. from the floor. The two eastern 

 bays of the nave occupy the position of the old 

 chancel, and the third pier from the west on the 

 north side is wider than the other two, marking the 

 position of an ancient pier containing the staircase to 

 the rood-loft. It has been entirely rebuilt, and has a 

 capital on the south side of which is carved a shield held 

 by two angels. The original staircase pier was 3 ft. 7 in. 

 square, and the present pier retains this dimension 

 from east to west, but is only 2 ft. deep, the width of 

 the other piers of the nave." In the 16th-century 

 rebuilding this pier seems to have been left standing 

 and the new arcade set out westward between it and 

 the tower. There being no corresponding wide pier 

 on the south side of the chancel it resulted that in the 

 setting out of the south arcade the spacing of the 

 arches was slightly different, and that the piers did 



BIRCH 



LEVER CHAPEL CHAPEL 



PLAN OF PRESTWICH CHURCH 



of the chancel, forming a kind of transept, and the 

 vestry in the angle thus formed north of the chancel 

 is a lower building of two stories. 



The chancel, which measures 40 ft. by 22 ft. 6 in., 

 together with the whole of the eastern part of the 

 building, has no archaeological interest. The east 

 window is one of seven lights under a segmental 

 head and with straight uncusped bar tracery above. 

 A modern pointed arch of two moulded orders 

 without capitals now divides the chancel from the 

 nave, and the west half of the chancel has an arch 

 on each side, that on the north opening to the 

 organ-chamber, and that on the south to the Birch 

 chapel. 



The nave now consists of five bays with an arcade 

 of pointed arches on each side, of two chamfered 



not come opposite to those on the north side. The 

 nave, which is about 80 ft. long and 20 ft. 6 in. 

 wide, 14 has a continuous range of two-light square- 

 headed clearstory windows, and a flat panelled roof 

 much restored but retaining a good deal of its original 

 16th-century timber. The Wilton chapel occupies 

 the two eastern bays of the aisle on the north side, 

 and being entirely rebuilt in 1888 is of no particular 

 interest. Its walls are considerably higher than those 

 of the aisle, and its windows loftier, and it has a 

 separate open timbered gable roof. The chapel is lit 

 by three windows of three lights, with plain tracery, 

 and has a door at its north-west corner. The eastern- 

 most arch of the nave is new, and springs from 

 corbelled shafts on each side. The first pier from the 

 east seems to be the west portion of a former length 



13 A plan of the church as it was in 

 1852 is in Booker, Mem. of the Cb. in 

 Presftvicb, 54. 



18 In the middle of the igth century 

 the pulpit stood on the south side of this 



6 9 



pier, through which access was gained to 

 it by means of a staircase. 



14 The original nave was 48 ft. 6 in. 



