The first entry in the St. Wilfrid's Parish Diary records that in the 1840s "Catholics were so numerous in Manchester that a great need was felt for a church in the growing township of Hulme." A church was commissioned, the Neo-Gothic design was that of A.W.N. [the elder] Pugin; the building was begun in 1841 and it was consecrated in the summer of 1842. The cost was about £5,000. Lord Shrewsbury was the chief benefactor. The church was designed to accommodate a congregation of 800 people. St. Wilfrid's parish was subsequently incorporated into the diocese of Salford, established in 1850 (the year from which the law allowed the practise of Catholicism and opened to its adherents public office and the professions).So the history of the Roman Catholic ministry to Hulme spans 159 years.
The new phenomenon of industrialisation was the most fundamental change ever to occur in the history of western society, and much of its initial impact was first felt in the north-west of England. With thriving textile and engineering factories in and around Hulme the area grew rapidly in the nineteenth century. Its population migrated in successive waves from different parts of the British Isles, though Irish people predominated. Then, as now, Hulme was home to ordinary men and women seeking new economic opportunities. House construction in the Hulme of the 1840s represented improved standards of comfort for working people. A. B. Reach, the historian, saw the attractions of Hulme compared with old industrial districts such as Ancoats, and he noted in 1849 that the newcomers responded to their improved environment by putting not deal but mahogany furniture in their houses.
Manchester's phenomenal growth continued for another two generations. By 1890 it ranked as the world's 17th largest city; by 1920 it was the 8th largest. Hulme's population rose too and the district had a Member of Parliament and a Town Hall; but it became overcrowded. Unchecked urban growth resulted in urban decay. In the 1934 Manchester City Council acquired the land comprising the ward of Hulme, and the first of a number of regeneration projects began. The deck-access tower blocks known as The Crescents were Hulme's architectural bequest to the 1970s. With the clearing and re-building of the area in the 1990s the land-marks of the new century are a number of medium-scale housing estates accommodating the re-built local communities, a natural concomitant to the successful commercial re-development of Hulme.
