St. Saviour's Church. Bacup
HIstory from: http://www.rossendale-fhhs.org.uk/files/bacup_churches/church_216.html
The church was consecrated on Monday, the 23rd of January, 1865, by the Lord Bishop of Manchester, the Right Rev. J. Fraser, and was designated "St. Saviour's, Bacup". Representatives of the local Wesleyan, Baptist and Independent churches were present at the service.
The cost of the erection of the church, school and vicarage was borne entirely by Mr. James Maden Holt and amounted, as near as can be ascertained, to £8,000, £2,000 and £1,400 respectively, exclusive of the value of the sites.
The new church
The architect employed by Mr. Maden Holt was E. Wyndham Tarn of London. The church, 120 ft. long and 53 ft. wide was built in the Early Pointed Gothic style from stone quarried on Mr. Holt's estate with pillars of polished red granite. Seating accommodation was provided for 1,000 people. The tower, which stands on the north side of the chancel, is surmounted by a spire 150 ft. in height. A small transept was built on the south side of the church. It was used originally as a pew for the Holt family but later the font was transferred to this chapel from its former position in the chancel. The church contains a baptistry for the immersion of adults. It is sunk in the chancel floor and is covered by an ornamental grating.
The above information was obtained from the 1865 - 1965 Centenary Handbook.
When the Reverend Eddie Ashworth retired in 1999 the parish became a joint benifice with Holy Trinity Church, Stacksteads. The Church held it's final service in October 2007 and the parish merged with Holy Trinity, Tunstead.
This substantial Grade II Listed Former Church is of stone construction with a spire and a pitched slate roof. Adjacent to the church is a former Sunday School building again of stone construction beneath a pitched slate roof.As of February 2022 t was on the market for offers around £95,000 with the council reluctant to allow its sale for residential dwelling development purposes.
A planning application was submitted in 2010 for conversion into residential purposes but this was refused.