St Lukes Church, Cheetham Hill Manchester

 The church of St Luke church located  on the corner of  the busy Cheetham Hill Road and Smedley Lane. Categorised as a  commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church and the  Million Act..

 which, by definition, a categorised church , usually  an Anglican church in the United Kingdom built with money voted by Parliament as a result of the Church Building Acts of 1818 and 1824. The 1818 Act supplied a grant of money and established the Church Building Commission to direct its use, and in 1824 made a further grant of money. In addition to paying for the building of churches, the Commission had powers to divide and subdivide parishes, and to provide endowments. The Commission continued to function as a separate body until the end of 1856, when it was absorbed into the Ecclesiastical Commission. In some cases the Commissioners provided the full cost of the new church; in other cases they provided a partial grant and the balance was raised locally. In total, 612 new churches were provided, mainly in expanding industrial towns and cities.

The building commenced in 1836 and was completed in 1839 using the ashlar method [ finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruvius as opus isodomum, or less frequently trapezoidal. Precisely cut "on all faces adjacent to those of other stones", ashlar is capable of very thin joints between blocks, and the visible face of the stone may be quarry-faced or feature a variety of treatments: tooled, smoothly polished or rendered with another material for decorative effect.] and in the architectural style of  Perpendicular Gothic or Third Pointed....The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed arches, rib vaults, buttresses, and extensive use of stained-glass. Combined, these features allowed the creation of buildings of unprecedented height and grandeur, filled with light from large stained-glass windows. Important examples include Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral. The Gothic style endured in England much longer than in Continental Europe. 

A wealthy local resident and enthusiastic amateur musician, J. W. Fraser, commissioned William Hill to design and install a three-manual church organ in the German System style. This was completed in 1840.Mendelssohn gave a recital using this instrument in April 1847

Although now mostly derelict, the tower and west end of the aisles and vestry survive and are classified as a Grade II listed building.

The crypt was accessible in 2023...as below

Cavernous underground vault supported by pillars and archways

What appears to be shelves, may have been where coffins would have been situated...

These were taken in 2012