Greenmount URC Church

A Congregational foundation of the 1850s, built at the expense of a local mill owner and still serving the village of Greenmount.

Sunday school first

Greenmount's congregation began not with a church but with a Sunday school, built in 1848 by Robert Hadfield, Samuel Knowles and Samuel Beswick. The Greenmount Independent Church was formally constituted in 1856.

The present church

The church replaced an earlier school-chapel of 1846 and was paid for very largely by Samuel Knowles, owner of Tottington Mill; the Lancashire Congregational Union contributed £500 towards a total cost of £3,856. Knowles laid the foundation stone on 14 April 1865, and the church opened in February 1867 with seating for 580.

The congregation became part of the United Reformed Church on 5 October 1972, when the Congregational and Presbyterian churches united, and was joined by the Churches of Christ in 1981.

Sources: Architects of Greater Manchester.