The scale was decided on by Fr Reginald Riley SJ, who wanted a larger size church for the local Catholic community.

[4] The church was opened in 1929, and was designed by Charles B. Powell,[1] an Irish architect who did other architectural work for the Jesuits in Dublin.

[4] The dome, designed in a Romanesque crossed with Gothic style, is on the point where the nave, sanctuary and transepts meet, sitting on a castellated octagonal tower.

A major feature of the clock tower is the historic Carillon (bells playable in musical notation by a keyboard, rather than in sequences by ropes).

[4] Cast and built by renowned bellfounders John Taylor & Co. of Loughborough, it is the largest in the North West of England housing 47 bells.