St. Elisabeth's

St. Elisabeth's Church is an Anglo Catholic church in Reddish, Stockport. Local mill-owner Sir William Houldsworth commissioned Alfred Waterhouse in the 1870s. Construction took place between 1881 and 1883, paid for entirely by Houldsworth, with consecration on 4 August 1883 by Bishop James Fraser. The church could hold 750 people and was named after Houldsworth's wife. Described by Pevsner as "a superb job, big-boned, with nothing mean outside or in", the church is of Openshaw brick with Wrexham stone dressings. The almost separate belltower contains eight bells cast by Taylor. The granite columns of the nave were brought to Reddish by narrowboat, and transported from the canal wharf at the mill by carts drawn by elephants borrowed from Belle Vue Zoo! It is listed grade I.