The building of All Saints’ Odd Rode
Randle Wilbraham of Rode Hall commissioned Gilbert Scott (an architect so admired by the Victorians) to draw up plans for a church in the new parish of Odd Rode.
This new church was designed in late C13th style and Pevsner (the architectural critic of post-war Britain) has called it a triumph of academic type - of good Gothic design.
The foundation stone was laid in June 1863 and the builder was John Gallimore from Newcastle-under-Lyme. Stone was used from the quarries of Mow Cop and Kerridge at Macclesfield. Gallimore, who was also a joiner, made the timber roof, which Gilbert Scott likened to the ribs of a ship. He also made the pews to the architect’s design.
The Chantry (behind the choir stalls) is where the Wilbraham family still sit on a Sunday. Here can be seen a stone rosette from the church of St Vladimir in the Crimea, sent back by Randle’s brother Richard during the war.
Besides the building of All Saints' Church, the needs of the ever increasing population of the parish were further met by the building and endowment in 1878 of St. Luke's, Mow Cop, from Funds appointed under the Will of Mrs. Elizabeth Moreton and by
subscription, and in 1905/6 the Chapel of the Good Shepherd at Rode Heath from
endowment under the Will of the two Miss Wilbrahams, (daughters of 'Old ' Randle,) who lived in Chester and died unmarried.