St John the Baptist Church for sale

St John the Baptist Church in Smallbridge is up for sale at a price of £120,000.

The 181 year old Grade II listed church closed in March 2008 due to a declining congregation and repair costs that were estimated to be around the £250,000 mark.

Salford based property agents Longden and Cook Commercial are hoping to sell the building to developers with the site being sold as “suitable for a variety of commercial activities” including a children’s nursery, educational uses and as a surgery or clinical/medical centre, with A2 and B1 office use also being considered.

The church, located on Halifax Road, has 3,635 sq ft of internal floor space.

The church was built in 1834 of local stone under a pitched slate roof. The architect was Lewis Vulliamy, who used simple gothic ‘preaching box’ design with an eight bay nave and three sided gallery.

St John the Baptist is one of 19 former places of worship being sold by the Church of England.