The church was built between 1875 and 1877 to a design by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin for Fletcher, Burrows and Company, the owners of three collieries in Atherton. It cost £7,000, and was paid for by Ralph Fletcher. The church was consecrated on 7 February 1877, and became a separate parish in its own right in August 1878. In 1928 the church was reseated at a cost of £1,056 by Austin and Paley, the successors in the Lancaster practice, and in 1938 they added a vestry at the east end at a cost of £1,338. The United Benefice was created in 2002.
Architecture
Exterior
St Michael's is constructed in coursed stone with dressings of Runcorn red sandstoneashlar, and has tiled roofs. Its plan is cruciform, consisting of an aisleless nave with a north porch and side chapels, north and south transepts, and a chancel with a clerestory and aisles, and an attached meeting room and choir vestry. Above the crossing is a two-stage octagonal flèche surmounted by a tall spire. At the west end is a large central buttress flanked by two-light windows with pointed arches. Above these in the gable are three small lancet windows. On the north side of the church is a timber-framed porch with a gable and side windows. To the east of this is a single two-light window and two three-light windows. There are similar windows on the south side of the nave. The chapels have two-light windows on the west and three-light windows on their sides. The transept gables contain a three-light window flanked by buttresses, and two lancets above them. In the clerestory there are three small lancet windows on each side. The large east window consists of five stepped lancets. There are further lancet windows in the rooms adjoining the chancel. Against the north wall of the chancel is a gabled stair turret decorated with blind arcading.
Interior
The nave has an open roof, and the chancel is stone-vaulted. The arcades in the chancel are carried on round and cluster piers, and have double-chamfered arches. The reredos is in marble and dates from 1903. The choir stalls date from 1919 and are in Perpendicular style. The chapel screens are in Decorated style. The chancel screen and the pulpit date from 1919 and are in wrought and cast iron. The font consists of a marble drum with panels. Much of the stained glass is by C. E. Kempe, dating from 1896 and other dates. There is a window in the north transept dated 1922 by Edward Moore. Also in the church are memorials, most of which are to the Fletcher family. The three-manual organ was made in 1932 by Rushworth and Dreaper of Liverpool.
Present day
The church was listed at Grade II* on 31 July 1996. Grade II* is the middle of the three gradings given by English Heritage, and is granted to buildings that "are particularly important buildings of more than special interest". Commenting on its design, the architectural historians Richard Pollard and Nikolaus Pevsner in the Buildings of England series say of the architects that "it is one of their most stimulating churches". The church arranges regular services on Sundays and during the week. It has a choir and a Mothers' Union, and runs a Sunday School, Scouts, Guides and associated groups.
