page_title: Westwood Moravian Church
section_title: Church
hierarchical_section_title: Westwood Moravian Church / Buildings and interiors / Church
caption_attribution_description: English: Drawing of interior of the 1869 building of the Westwood Moravian Church, Oldham, Lancashire, England, as it would have appeared between 1882 and 1923
context_page_description: Westwood Moravian Church was founded in 1865 in the Westwood area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. By 1868 the church building was too small for its congregation, and a new structure was opened in 1869. This church was used for Moravian services until 2005 when the congregation sold it and moved to its new premises in Royton. The Westwood building still stands.
context_section_description: The foundation stone of the Westwood church was laid on 5 August 1865. This building was on Main Road on the site now occupied by the Sunday School. It soon became apparent that the chapel was not big enough and building work began on a new church on Middleton Road in 1868. This was opened on 12 May 1869 and remained in use by the Moravian Church until July 2005.
  The exterior of the 1869 church building was described in 2005: "The show is all to the road, where pinnacled piers frame a gabled entrance bay with round-headed arches to the door and windows. On each side bays with stairs to the galleries, with cornices and pinnacles at the angles".
  A drawing exists of the interior of the church as arranged in 1882. The organ is in an apse at the north end. The pulpit, which has access by stairs on both sides, is in a central position in front of the organ. The communion table stands in front of the pulpit. Rows of pews face the table from right, left and centre.
  The interior was substantially remodeled in 1924. In addition to new vestries beyond the old north exterior wall for the Minister and choir, the front of the church was fitted with beautiful oak furniture. This included choir stalls to right and left; a communion table, chairs and a memorial screen for the war dead; and a new pulpit between the table and the Minister's vestry. The cost of these works was over £3,000 . In 1932 a baptismal font was given to the church in memory of Br J J Lees. When Westwood closed in 2005, the communion table, memorial plaque and Lamb and Flag symbol from the pulpit were transferred to the new church in Royton along with the font.
caption: The interior of the 1869 church as it would have appeared between 1882 and 1923.
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