When I moved to Greater Manchester in 2021, I was surprised to discover that the major evangelical churches, in particular City Church Manchester and Grace Church Manchester, were only recently planted. I wanted to find out about the history of Manchester churches. Church of England The first Church of England church in Manchester was the Collegiate church, now Manchester Cathedral . The original church at Manchester traces its origins back to 923 or earlier, and more recently to 1421; its history is written up in the volume, "Manchester Cathedral..." . From 1657 onwards (during the Commonwealth period), the Puritan preacher, Henry Newcombe, was appointed as an official preacher at the Collegiate church. Shortly after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, he was forced to step down, unable to accept the Act of Uniformity, and from 1664 had to reside five miles from his former place of ministry. Besides the Collegiate church, the parish of Manchester included n...