St Edmund's Church, Rochdale

Saint Edmund's Church (or the Church of Saint Edmund) is a redundant church building located on Clement Royds Street in the Falinge area of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, England. Commissioned by Rochdale's local industrialist and Freemason Albert Royds, the construction of the building was completed to a high and rich specification in 1873, with an "enormous" cost of around £25,000 (£2.8 million in 2023). It is the only known church building in England so overtly dedicated to Masonic symbolism and is therefore unique within English architecture. Art critic Nikolaus Pevsner described the building as "Rochdale's temple to Freemasonry, a total concept as exotic as Roslin Chapel in Scotland". Because of the building's craftsmanship, design and prevalent Masonic theme, St Edmund's Church was recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building in 1985. The church closed for worship in 2007, and in 2009, The Victorian Society identified the building as "unusual and extraordinary" but also critically endangered. St Edmund's heritage status was upgraded to a Grade I listing in 2010 in recognition of its unique Masonic architecture and exceptional architectural interest. It has since been acquired by the Churches Conservation Trust.