Gorton Monastery

Designed by the architect Edward Pugin, the Church of St Francis in Gorton held its first service in 1872, pre-dated by a few years by the adjoining Franciscan friary. For much of the next 100 years, it would prove a thriving religious hub, but a housing demolition programme in the 1970s saw its congregation dwindle. When the friars left in 1989, the site was sold for conversion into flats, but the scheme failed and the buildings fell into disrepair. In 1996, a trust was set up by volunteers to raise the millions needed to restore Gorton Monastery, a task that carried on well into the 21st century.