Top billing for old church

Manchester - A ruined church in Manchester has joined a list of the world's most exotic monuments. The World Monuments Fund has selected the former St Francis Church and Monastery in Gorton for its top 100 endangered sites, which also include the Taj Mahal and Pompeii. The monastery, built in 1872, was home to Franciscan monks until it was abandoned in 1989. The Grade II listed building was designed by Edward Welby Pugin and was once said to be the most beautiful parish church in the north of England.