St James Church

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St James, Didsbury, on Stenner Lane, is a Grade II* Church of England church in the Manchester suburb of Didsbury and with Emmanuel church is part of the parish of St James and Emmanuel, Didsbury.HistoryIn 1235 Albertus de Gresley granted land to Nicholas de Longford, Lord of the Manor of Withington, for the foundation of his own chapel in Didsbury. The first mention of the chapel is in the records of the Lancashire Assizes when 'William, Chaplain of Didsbury, came not on the first day and was fined'.In 1352 the Bishop of Lichfield gave permission for the consecration of a churchyard for the burial of the victims of the Black Death.In 1541 the Diocese of Chester was formed and the church was transferred from the Diocese of Lichfield. The parish covered an area from the River Mersey to Moss Side and from Chorlton-cum-Hardy to Heaton Norris and Reddish.In accordance with the orders of Elizabeth I all records of births, deaths and marriages began to be recorded in 1561. The original register is in the City of Manchester archives and includes the record of the baptism of Saint Ambrose Barlow on 30 November 1585.