St Hildeburgh's Church, Hoylake

St Hildeburgh's Church, Hoylake
St Hildeburgh's Church, Hoylake, from the north
St Hildeburgh's Church, Hoylake Location in Merseyside
Coordinates: 53°23′27″N 3°11′01″W / 53.3909°N 3.1837°W / 53.3909; -3.1837
OS grid reference	SJ 214 889
Location	Stanley Road, Hoylake, Wirral, Merseyside
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Hildeburgh, Hoylake
History
Dedication	Saint Hildeburgh
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	17 October 1986
Architect(s)	Edmund Kirby
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1897
Completed	1899
Specifications
Materials	Red brick and terracotta, tiled roof
Administration
Parish	Holy Trinity Church, Hoylake
Deanery	Wirral, North
Archdeaconry	Chester
Diocese	Chester
Province	York
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Revd Paul Rossiter
Curate(s)	Revd John Harrison
Laity
Organist(s)	Stephen Claus
Churchwarden(s)	Carron Jones, Paul Irvine
Parish administrator	Jenny White

St Hildeburgh's Church is in Stanley Road, Hoylake, Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is an active Anglican church in the deanery of Wirral, North, the archdeaconry of Chester and the diocese of Chester.^[1] The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.^[2]

History

During the 1890s the population of Hoylake was growing and new church was needed.^[3] To satisfy this need St Hildehburgh's Church was built in 1897–99. It was designed by Edmund Kirby.^[4] The church was dedicated to Saint Hildeburgh.^{[lower-alpha 1]} At the time that St Hildeburgh's was built the parish church of Hoylake was Holy Trinity Church, but this was closed in 1974, and St Hildeburgh's then became the town's parish church.^[3]

Architecture

Exterior

The church is constructed in red brick and terracotta with tiled roofs. Its plan consists of a five-bay nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles under lean-to roofs, a chancel with a north organ loft and vestry, a south chapel, a northwest porch, and a west baptistry. The porch is timber-framed on a brick base. Along the sides of the aisles are alternating paired and triple lancet windows. The windows along the clerestory are octofoils. At the west end are gabled buttresses that rise above the level of the roof. In the baptistry are three square windows, four lancets, and an octofoil at the top. The east window consists of a central cross flanked by quatrefoils. The chapel has a caned end, lancet windows, and a bell in an iron frame.^[2]

Interior

Inside the church the five-bay arcades are carried on round piers of polished granite. There is a low chancel screen, and a richly carved octagonal timber pulpit with a tester. Between the chancel and the chapel is a three-bay arcade with a parclose screen. The timber reredos is richly carved, and includes a panel in tile and mosaic of the Good Shepherd. On the north wall of the chancel are three pained panels, and in the south wall is a sedilia with crocketed gables. The font is octagonal and is carved with the symbols of the four evangelists.^[2] Some of the stained glass windows are by Powell's, including the east window, which is a war memorial to members of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club. Elsewhere is a window of 1919 depicting a knight by Margaret Agnes Rope, and a window from the 1940s by William Aikman. In the chapel are windows of 1921–23 by J. Wilson Forster, one of which depicts a Boy Scout being embraced by an angel.^[4] In the south wall of the chancel is a window of 2009 showing scenes of the Liverpool waterfront by David Hillhouse.^[4] The three-manual pipe organ was made by Rushworth and Dreaper.^[5]

Notes and references

Notes

↑ At one time it was thought that Saint Hildeburgh had been a woman living on Hilbre Island in the 7th century. However this has been questioned, and it is thought that she might have been connected with Saint Ermenhilde, the mother of Saint Werburgh to whom Chester Cathedral is dedicated.^[3]

Citations