Church web Site Address ..... http://www.staidanbillinge.org.uk
Postal Address .....
According to Rev Wickham's booklet 'Some Notes on Billinge'
A chapel has been on the present site since 1540. The present church
was built in 1717 and became the
Founded 1696, is the only Anglican church in the village and thought to have been
designed by William Smith and his son Francis
Billinge Cross...... Not a part of St Aidans but surely associated at some time was Billinge Cross, mentioned
in a document of 1555.
There are no records of size and location of the earlier chapel,
there is no trace of any dedication and was thought to be very
small and poorly furnished.
the most likely site of this
chapel was where the present Church
of St Aidan stands. It is an impressive thought that
the people
of Billinge have worshipped God at this spot for more than 450
years.The
sixteenth century was a time of great upheaval and
confusion for the Church with the
Church of Rome and the Church
of England being ascendant in turn. When Queen Elizabeth
came to the throne in 1558 Protestantism was finally established
as the national religion
but for many years after that there were
problems in Billinge. The local gentry were
mainly Roman Catholic
and the chapel which had now become a Protestant institution
was
in poor condition and did not have an ordained minister.
Parish Church in 1828.
Smith, in the
Anglo-Saxon / Gothic style. It is known that a James Skaesbrike was a prime mover in the
construction of the new
building, a memorial to his generosity can be seen on the South wall of the nave,
and that the Bankes family also made an equal
contribution. It is unfortunate but
we know little about Mr Scaesbrike except that he was a Liverpool merchant who had
relatives
at Winstanley. The new church was a rectangular building with a
small apse at the east end.
It is thought that this cross was located at a boundary of the
Winstanley estate. It's location would have been at the junction of
Main Street with
either Newton Road or Beacon Road, both close to the church. The land around Billinge
was formally owned by
Cockersand Abbey and it was usual for boundaries of such properties
to be marked with crosses. The cross was probably destroyed by
Cromwells men though it
could still be found one day by someone excavating for a new building or will it be
found forming a lintel or
stone step in one of the older stone buildings in the village.
We will just have to wait and see.
The Ministers who have served St Aidan's from the beginning to present Day.
Supplied by Rev. D.W. Harris.
1609 - 1625 ..... Richard ('Reader') Bolton.
1625 - 1626 ..... Edward Tempest.
1626 - 1627 ..... Peter Travers.
1628 - 1646 ..... ?.
1646 - 1662 ..... John Wright (The Puritan Minister).
1665 - 1666 ..... John Blakeburne.
1666 - 1685 ..... Goulbourn.
1685 - 1699 ..... Humphry Tudor.
1699 - 1704 ..... Edward Sedgwick.
1704 - 1707 ..... John Horrobin.
1708 - 1748 ..... Humphry Walley.
1749 - 1763 ..... Edward Parr.
1763 - 1776 ..... Thomas Withnell (Dispute over patronage).
1776 - 1813 ..... Richard Carr.
1813 - 1833 ..... Samuel Hall.
1833 - 1853 ..... John Bromilow.
1853 - 1898 ..... Howard St George.
1899 - 1934 ..... Francis B Anson Miller.
1935 - 1949 ..... Arthur White (Archdeacon of Warrington).
1950 - 1952 ..... John D Jones.
1953 - 1966 ..... W Kenneth Strickland.
1967 - 1981 ..... Derek W Harris.
1981 - 2000 ..... Dennis Lyon.
2001- ..... Sam W Pratt.
The following are various pictures of the annual walking day parades.
Walking Day.....Longshaw c1900.
Walking Day 1921
Walking Day 1921.
Walking Day 1922
Walking Day 1924.
Walking Day 1927
Walking Day 1929.
Walking Day 1958
Walking Day 2001.
Parish records for St Aidan's (C of E) church exist as follows:
| Location | Original Registers | LPRS-CD | LPRS-Fiche | |
| Births/Christenings | 1696-1812 |
CD-123 | MR-123 | |
| Marriages | 1696-1812 |
CD-123 | MR-123 | |
| Deaths/Burials | 1699-1812 |
CD-123 | MR-123 |
