Rector: The Rev'd Canon Ted Crofton, Team Rector of Eccles Team Ministry

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, ECCLES has stood on the same site for at least 800 years and is therefore the oldest church in the City of Salford. As such, it is attracting an ever- increasing number of visitors who wish to share in a sense of history and also, perhaps, establish some sort of link with the thousands of people from the parish who over eight centuries have worshipped and found solace and comfort within, its walls.

The Parish Church has a fascinating story to tell which is well worth following up. These web pages will help you to do so by setting out chronologically the changes to the building since Norman times and showing how they fitted into the national picture. We have tried to ensure the accuracy of our information by using the most recent research to update the usual authorities.

We hope that this site will encourage you to visit us and add to your understanding of the way our parish church has continued over so many hundreds of years to reflect the life of the community it serves.

Address:12B Westminister Road, Eccles Manchester M30 9EB.
Telephone: 0161 281 5739.

Welcome to the website for Eccles Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin; an ancient church with a modern welcome for all.

Let me introduce myself. I arrived here as Rector in September 2002, so I am still getting to know my way around. My wife, Jill and I have been welcomed most warmly and made to feel very much at home. I am responsible for the Eccles team ministry, which includes the parishes of Christ Church, Patricroft, St Andrew’s Eccles and St Paul’s, Monton which work together with each other and also with other Christian denominations to share the Good News of Jesus Christ in our part of Salford.

We moved here after eleven years at Christ Church, Cheltenham, where I was vicar and Jill was a teacher. Before that, I was Vicar of Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast for ten years, at St Mary’s with Holy Apostles. Before that, I served two curacies, the first in Hull and the second in Worksop, Notts. So my ministry has basically been in the north with the exception of the years in Cheltenham, and we are delighted to be back in the north again.

We have three grown up children: Rob, who is married to Petra has just completed five years working in the south of France with a Christian conservation organisation called A ROCHA, developing a residential centre and helping to preserve unspoilt habitats neat Arles. In September of this year, he will start training for the ordained ministry at Ridley Hall, Cambridge.

Elly, our daughter is a teacher of French and German in Coventry and Tim, our youngest, is just completing a four year mechanical engineering degree at Exeter University.

My ambition for St Mary’s, as for all the churches in the team, is that we should KNOW CHRIST AND MAKE HIM KNOWN. It is as the whole church together comes to know Christ in a deeper way, that we shall begin to help others, both young and old, to find in Jesus Christ a new way of living which brings us to fulness of life.