| History of St Andrew's |
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OUR HISTORY
 THE BUILDING St Andrew’s Church was built in 1834 by the Grant family as a church in connection with the Presbyterian Church in Scotland. St Andrew’s is the oldest church in Ramsbottom and the Grant Brothers are believed to be the original Cheeryble Brothers of Dicken’s ‘Nicholas Nickleby’. The church had a somewhat stormy existence in the 1860s until in 1869 the last member of the Grant family deprived the congregation of its church and offered it to the first Bishop of Manchester as an Anglican Church. Eventually it became a mission church attached to St Paul’s, Ramsbottom, and then, in 1875, Bishop Fraser consecrated it as the Parish Church of St Andrew. The building is probably unique in being the only Parish Church formerly used by another denomination. THE INTERIOR After much thought, prayer and planning, the church building was closed in February 1993 to allow for a major scheme of refurbishment and re-ordering. This was designed to enable the building to be in daily use, serving the church family and community. Members of the church family carried out a great deal of the practical work and the building was re-opened with a service of Thanksgiving and Dedication on 15 May 1994. THE PARISH For much of its existence it has been a small parish; some 400 houses. In 1983, part of Holcombe parish was added to St Andrew's and this, together with the housing development off Nuttall Lane from the mid 1980s, has brought the total number of homes in the parish to about 2,000. The parish also includes the Railway Station, the grounds of the Ramsbottom Cricket Club and Football Club and Nuttall Park. The parish population is just over 5,000.
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