Church of St Clement, Liverpool

Church of St Clement, Liverpool
Church of St Clement, Liverpool, from the northwest
Church of St Clement, Liverpool Location in Merseyside
Coordinates: 53°23′49″N 2°57′09″W / 53.3970°N 2.9525°W / 53.3970; -2.9525
OS grid reference	SJ 368 893
Location	Beaumont Street, Toxteth, Liverpool
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Churchmanship	Open Evangelical
Website	St Clement, Liverpool
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Designated	14 March 1975
Architect(s)	Arthur and George Yates Williams
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1840
Completed	1841
Specifications
Materials	Stone, slate roof
Administration
Deanery	Toxteth and Wavertree
Archdeaconry	Liverpool
Diocese	Liverpool
Province	York
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Rev. Elaine Jones

The Church of St Clement is in Beaumont Street, Toxteth, Liverpool, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Liverpool, the archdeaconry of Liverpool, and the deanery of Toxteth and Wavertree.^[1] The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.^[2]

History

The church was built in 1840–41 to a design by Arthur and George Yates Williams. A west porch was added later, and in 1892 the original straight flight of stairs leading up to the pulpit was replaced by a separate spiral staircase. In 1984 a screen was placed under the west gallery to provide a parish room.^[3]

Architecture

Exterior

St Clement's Church is constructed in stone with a slate roof. Its plan consists of a seven-bay nave and a chancel with a shallow canted apse at the east end. Along the sides of the church are lancet windows between buttresses; at the corners the buttresses are gabled.^[2] At the west end of the church is a further projecting bay, narrower than the rest of the church, and with a steeper roof. This contains north and south doors, and the stairs leading up to the gallery. The west face contains three stepped lancet windows. On the summit is an octagonal bell turret with gabled openings, surmounted by a short spire with a finial.^[2][3] Projecting from this bay is a porch with a pointed entrance and gabled buttresses. At the east end of the church the apse has a hipped roof and a triple lancet window.^[2]

Interior

Inside the church there are galleries on three sides, with the organ at the west end. The galleries are carried on cast iron columns. A screen has been inserted under the west gallery to provide a separate enclosed area. At the east end the altar is placed in a shallow polygonal recess. Flanking the communion table are boards inscribed with the Ten Commandments. The chancel arch is plain, and bears an inscription. The pulpit is a two-decker with an integral reading desk. Its upper deck is carried on four iron columns, and is reached by a spiral staircase. The pews are box pews, some of which have been removed around the pulpit. The ceiling is a plaster vault painted with stars.^[2][3] Pollard and Pevsner in the Buildings of England series say of the interior: "This is a rare survival of an all but complete pre-Ecclesiological Victorian church".^[3]

Ses also

• Grade II* listed buildings in Merseyside

References