History of the Church

When John Greaves of Irlam Hall died in 1848 he left money and land for a church and a vicarage to be built in Irlam. This is how St. John the Baptist Church came to be built and it was consecrated on 11 July 1866 by the Bishop of Manchester.

At the time that the church was built Irlam village was mainly a farming community and the ties between the church and the farmers were very strong. You can see this in the design of the church. It looks like a country church on the outside, quite small and plain. Inside, the roof reminds us of a farmer’s barn.

An unusual feature on the tower of the church is a weather vane in the shape of a fish, which was donated by the Steelworks – Irlam’s main industry until it was closed in the 1970s.

Life in the parish is very different now from the time when the church was first built; there are very few farms on Irlam Moss today and Irlam has become part of Salford.