Princess Cinema

In the Castleton district of Rochdale, the Princess Cinema opened around 1914.

It was owned by A. E. Millward. By 1940 (according to the Kinematograph Year Book) ownership had transferred to E. Woodall, who also owned the Ideal cinema, right next door (separated by Milne Street). (The cinemas shared the same telephone number.) That entry also records a stage that was 8ft deep, and two dressing rooms.

It is not known precisely when the Princess Cinema closed. It was listed in the 1947 Kinematograph Year Book (still owned by E. Woodall, with the additional information that the proscenium was 22ft wide) but in 1951 it was acquired for conversion into a church, St. Gabriel’s and the Angels.

The website ‘Taking Stock’, a directory of Catholic churches, provides some interesting information about the origins of this current use and the building itself.

“The parish originated in a mission from St John Rochdale which was established in 1879. A school/chapel was built in 1884 near the Manchester Road. However, by the late-1940’s, that was becoming inadequate, so the former Princess Cinema was acquired. A new presbytery was built alongside it in 1953.

The church is a very simple building, rectangular on plan with a pitched roof overall. The walls are faced with red brick laid in Flemish bond, the roof is covered with Welsh slate. The east end elevation to Smalley Street has a round-headed central window with rectangular sash windows on each side. The side elevation to Milne Street has four segment-headed window openings with metal windows.

Internally the original cinema function of the building is clear from the raked floor of the main space, although the seating is timber benches which are clearly ecclesiastical in character. The walls are plain plastered, the windows clear glazed and the ceiling is plain boarded below the braced collars of the timber roof. A recess for the sanctuary has been formed in the centre of the east wall, in the location of the original cinema screen. Behind the modern altar on the east wall is a crucifix with a canopy."

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