History of St Marys Church 1830-1880

Four churches were built in Sheffield between 1825 and 1830 with the help of the government's 'million pound fund' which was intended to provide churches for the impoverished industrial workers. St Marys is the only one still used as a place of worship. At first, St Marys stood alone, surrounded by fields and gardens, on the edge of the town.

The foundation stone was laid in Bramall Lane on 12/10/1826 by the Countess of Surrey.St Mary's Church was consecrated 21/7/1830 as a chapel of ease to the parish church (the present cathedral).

In November 1839, St Marys survived an arson attack during the Chartists' agitation.

In 1848 St Mary's became a parish in its own right.

In practice, the congregation where mostly from the middle classes, whose large houses had spread around the south and east of the town.

In 1870 an average congregation consisted of 1,000 in the main body of the church with 400 in the galleries. 700 attended bible classes on Sunday afternoon.

St Simon's, Eyre St. was originally a Baptist Chapel. It was created an ecclesiastical district within St Marys Parish around 1846, and the church was opened in 1858, being consecrated as a parish church in 1866. The building was "damaged by enemy action and demolished", but order in council uniting the parish was passed in 1937. The parish was re-united with St Marys in 1946.