A short history of the church -
The church stands almost 800 feet up at the head of the Longdendale Valley, with fewer than 400 people living within a four-mile radius. It is one of the most desolate churches in the country.
The first church on the site was probably erected in 1487 by Sir Edmund Shaa, Lord Mayor of London (but who had been born in the area of Stockport or Dukinfield), who left money for a priest to sing mass and take services in the "chapel that I have made in Longdendale". The first building was wooden.
Graves in the churchyard are not only of local residents, but of the workers engaged in constructing the Woodhead reservoir (1848) and the railway tunnel (1849). Other graves are of workers who dies from a Cholera outbreak in 1849.
The church was handed over to 12 trustees in 1996 to be used for religious and other charitable purposes.
The chapel has been left untended for a number of years, but the Trust who own it has been refreshed by supporters and local residents. The upkeep of the chapel relies on volunteers and donations, as well as fund raising by its supporters. After completing a survey, there is some work to be done to keep it watertight and to restore some features in order that it can be used as a community resource and to preserve the heritage of the Longdendale Valley.
Our vision is to enable it to be used as a community place, for religious purposes and for other groups to use E.g., art displays, music evenings, poetry readings, cake and coffee mornings, yoga retreats, celebrant services, residents and other meetings and a place to display details and pictures of the valley and our local areas heritage. There is no community resource to use in this manner within about four miles of the chapel.