Church House Departments
Welcome. We are here to serve you
Church House is located at 90 Deansgate. It is the official business address of the Manchester Diocesan Board of Finance, the Board of Education and the Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches.
It is the administrative centre for the Diocese of Manchester, and the staff are here to serve you.
It is our pleasure and pride to serve the Diocese of Manchester in whatever way we can. We hope this section (green coded for Church House departments) will be a useful guide to who does what, and that it will help make the diocesan administration a ready resource for all those who need it.
John Beck, Chief Executive.
The Church of England Diocese of Manchester,
Church House,
90 Deansgate
Manchester
M3 2GH
Telephone: 0161 828 1400
The History of Manchester Diocesan Church House Company
Church House is managed by a separate company for the benefit to the clergy and its parishes.The Company was incorporated on 6 August 1908 and moved into Church House, Deansgate on 18 October 1911.
What a day that was! The Archbishop of York opened the building at noon, afternoon tea was provided for 800 guests (at 8d per person!) and the celebrations concluded with an organ recital in the newly furnished Houldsworth Hall in the evening. They certainly knew how to party!
The first Board of Directors was a roll-call of the ‘movers and shakers’ in the business and commercial life of Lancashire and Manchester – Colonel Clapham, Sir William Holdsworth and Henry A Heywood, who was not only a member of the city’s banking fraternity but also one of Manchester’s greatest benefactors.
They and their colleagues were men of vision, enterprise and determination. They had been charged with building a Church House and so provide rooms for the Bishop of Manchester, his Council and Committees and offices for the necessary staff. Wisely, shops and offices for other businesses were built so ensuring financial stability without any charge on the parishes – even to this day!
And, a club house with bedrooms was also constructed! In those days before the establishment of the Diocese of Blackburn the Bishop of Manchester’s writ ran from the Mersey to way beyond Blackpool! It was a long way to come for an afternoon meeting in Manchester! Bishop Knox was a driving force behind the developments and was ably supported by the Clerical Secretary, Canon Drury. He was authorised by the Directors to spend a week in London in 1911 (at the Company’s expense) seeking out support for the buying of shares among Members of Parliament and others connected with Manchester to finance the development.
In later years, ownership of shares slipped away from diocesan hands. However, between 1970 and 1990 the Diocesan Board of Finance carefully advanced its holdings and now holds 98% of the shares.
In 2002 a training centre was constructed within the building and an extensive programme of up-dating offices was set in hand.
Now, the officers and support staff of the Board of Finance, Education, Ministry and Social Affairs, Church Buildings and Communications are all located within the building. So too, the office and shop of the Mothers’ Union and the office of the Diocesan Registrar.
We owe a great deal to the early visionaries. Equally to the efficient and professional support offered by all who work for the Church in Church House or who sit on Councils and Committees follow on a very good tradition of commitment to the Church. The requirement to provide rooms for the Bishop of Manchester and his diocesan staff in 2008 remains honoured as it has been for 100 years.
A prayer by the Diocesan Bishop Christopher, at the opening of the Training Centre on 5 September 2002 encapsulates the ethos of Church House Company Limited.
“We pray that you will make available here the needful gifts
of grace to all who shall use this Centre and this Building:
- to those who will meet here,
- to those who will work here,
- to those who will study here,
- to those who will relax here,
- to those who will seek you here. Amen"
