A modest church of mid-twentieth century date without strong architectural pretensions.

The township of Swinton was absorbed into Salford and has become a mixed area with a civic and shopping centre surrounded by residential areas, with a hinterland once dominated by mining and industry. The Catholic mission was founded in 1847 to cater for increasing numbers of Irish people fleeing the famine in Ireland and seeking work in the area. The parish of St Charles was erected in 1923, when a church and school were built. The present church was built in 1955 and a presbytery added in 1958.  The design is typical of economical designs of the period by Reynolds & Scott. A new presbytery was built in 1965 to the design of Peter R. Nuttall & Associates. The sanctuary appears to have been reordered, and the sanctuary furnishings replaced, probably in the late twentieth century.

Description

All orientations given are liturgical. The church is built of brownish brick in a stripped, modern Romanesque style, with paired round arched lancet windows. The building is a single vessel with one chancel chapel (north side) and a low narthex at the west end. It has a windowless east end. Inside there is a west gallery and raised sanctuary. This has simple marble furnishings of late twentieth century character. There is bench seating. Unusual Stations if the Cross are executed in painted tiles with lettering suggesting a date range in the middle of the twentieth century, but the tiles do not have an obvious makers mark. Stained glass is generally of simple geometric designs with much plain glass. The exception is at the west end where glass roundels incorporate dates and motifs associated with St Charles Borromeo.

Heritage Details