St. Peter's Church, Woolton, Liverpool

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St. Peter's Church in Woolton, Liverpool, England opened in 1887 with the neo-Gothic building replacing an earlier church on the site. It is a magnificent building and one of the larger parish churches in Liverpool. It is an active church today, but is probably best known for its connections with The Beatles.

1 History
2 The Beatles connections
3 St. Peter's today
4 External links

[edit] History

The lease of the land for the original church was donated by John Okill in 1774.

A chapel was built in 1826 on a site a little below the present building. Holding around 200 people, it was built of the locally quarried sandstone, and was consecrated on 16 September 1826. The church records indicate that the building was somewhat of an eyesore and built “in the worst style of British church architecture”.

The population of Woolton village grew steadily in the 19th century, and the church was felt to be too small. The foundation stone of the new church was laid in 1886, and it opened for worship the following year. The new church was built from local sandstone in the perpendicular style developed in the late 15th century. (The old church was taken down stone by stone and reassembled in the Toxteth district of Liverpool.)

The 90-ft high bell tower contains 8 bells and is the highest point in Liverpool, with commanding views of Lancashire, Cheshire and the Welsh hills.

The church has a fine set of stained glass windows, all except two of which are designed by the famous artist Charles Kempe. The two smaller windows were removed from the original church and are designed by William Morris. Kempe’s work can be seen also in the small side chapel, which is regularly used for smaller services.

A new addition to the church facilities, the Centenary Rooms, were completed in 1987.

[edit] The Beatles connections

The first meeting of John Lennon and Paul McCartney famously took place at St. Peter’s Church Hall on the evening of Saturday, 6 July 1957. McCartney was introduced to Lennon and the other members of the Quarrymen skiffle group while they were waiting to play at the church dance. The historic meeting was brief, but long enough for the Quarrymen to be sufficiently impressed to later ask McCartney to join the group.

The churchyard at St. Peter's contains the grave of Eleanor Rigby, which, in at least one version of the story, is where the name came from for the 1966 Beatles song.

Also in the churchyard is the grave of Lennon’s uncle, George Toogood Smith. After the breakdown of his parent’s marriage when he was five, Lennon lived in the area with Uncle George and Aunt Mimi. Whilst Aunt Mimi was a regular member of the congregation, Lennon’s visits to church were less frequent but he was a member of the youth group and sang occasionally in the choir at weddings.