St Paul's was built in 1841, when Withington was growing from a small Lancashire village into an urban district of Manchester.

According to a churchwarden's 1896 account, Mendelssohn "played a service and gave a recital upon the organ and it was pronounced by him to be an excellent instrument".

Mendelssohn's Manchester tour also included an organ recital at St Luke's Church, Cheetham.

[4][8] The stained glass includes three lights at the east end by Ward and Hughes, and in the nave are two 1901 windows by local glassmaker Walter J. Pearce: a depiction of a young Queen Victoria and a stained-glass copy of Holman Hunt's Light of the World painting.

A solid oak lych gate was installed in 1894 at the entrance to the churchyard, donated by local philanthropist Clayton Chorlton.