Listed Building record MDR23269 - Sunday School, Woodhead Road, Tintwistle

Sunday School, Woodhead Road, Tintwistle, built in 1871. 'Until the late 18th century Tintwistle was a small hill community, but from 1777 a number of cotton mills began to be constructed beside the local stream, using its water power. From the 1830s the Sidebottom family took a controlling interest in one of the mills, and became a leading local family. The Sidebottoms endowed many local institutions, including the Church of England parish church and a number of Nonconformists chapels. However, between the 1830s and 1870s some of the mills were closed to make way for reservoirs, in order to provide water for the rapidly expanding industrial region around Manchester. Throughout this period education was becoming an important issue: At the end of the 18th century even young children worked long hours, either in domestic workshops or else in the new factories. The only time children had to further their education was on Sundays, so churches began to establish Sunday Schools that would teach children how to read and write and indoctrinate them in religious matters. From the 1830s Factory Acts began to restrict the working hours of children. One consequence was that the Church of England, Nonconformist Churches and even the Catholic Church formed charitable institutions in order to provide children with an education during the week. In 1870 the first Education Act was passed, enabling these charitable institutions to transform themselves into School Boards able to establish schools with a view to provide education for children of all sects. In 1871 one arm of the Sidebottom family provided the funds for the parish's Nonconformist churches to jointly establish what was known as the Sunday School. (Another arm of the family had already provided the resources for a small Church of England school to the south of the Anglican Christ Church.) This was a large Gothic revival building, with a large main hall overlooked by a balcony, a room for infants and probably accommodation for a teacher. So the building was probably intended for worship and meetings, as well as for education. The report does not make it clear whether, in spite of its name, the school provided an education during the week. That seems possible, however, in view of its date. The Sunday School closed in the late 20th century and combined with the C of E school to create a new primary school on the edge of the village.' (1) From the National Heritage List for England: 'This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 4 April 2023 to reformat the text to current standards SK 09 NW 4/24 PARISH OF TINTWISTLE CHURCH STREET (north side) Sunday school and boundary wall GV II Sunday school. 1871. Coursed gritstone with gritstone dressings. Slate roof with crested ridge tiles, stone coped gables and stone gable end stacks. Rectangular plan with projecting south porch, a cross wing at the west end and various lean-to structures on north and south sides. South elevation: raised above road level, central porch with polygonal front with four lancet windows. Flanking stairs on each side leading to doorways with pointed arches. Plank doors with elaborate iron hinges. Flanked by two-light pointed arched windows with geometrical tracery, three to the right and two to the left, divided by buttresses with two set-offs. A lean-to at each end, that to the right with lancet windows above and that to the left with a rose window in the gable of the cross wing. In the west and east gables a wheel window with trefoiled segments set within a pointed arched surround with horizontal sill. Wall to the road with chamfered coping stones and gate piers. Listing NGR: SK0231397299.' (2)