St Mary's Church, Wavertree

St Mary's Church, Wavertree

St Mary's Church, Wavertree, from the southeast
St Mary's Church, Wavertree

Location in Merseyside

Coordinates: 53°24′03″N 2°55′12″W / 53.4007°N 2.9199°W
OS grid reference SJ 389 897
Location North Drive, Wavertree, Liverpool, Merseyside
Country England
Denomination Anglican
Website St Mary, Wavertree
Architecture
Status Parish church
Functional status Active
Heritage designation Grade II
Designated 14 March 1975
Architectural type Church
Groundbreaking 1872
Completed 1880s
Specifications
Materials Sandstone, slate roofs
Administration
Parish St Mary, Wavertree
Deanery Toxteth and Wavertree
Archdeaconry Liverpool
Diocese Liverpool
Province York
Clergy
Rector Revd June Asquith
Laity
Churchwarden(s) Irene Pyle, Rita Taylor

St Mary's Church is in North Drive, Wavertree, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Toxteth and Wavertree, the archdeaconry of Liverpool, and the diocese of Liverpool.[1] The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.[2]

History

The building originated as a Methodist church, which was built in 1872–73. In the 1880s additions were made to it, including a tower with a broach spire.[3] The church was damaged during the First World War, and was renovated in 1925. It failed to flourish, and closed as a Methodist church in 1950.[4]

St Mary's Anglican church was designed by W. and J. Hay and built in Sandown Park.[3] The foundation stone was laid on 15 August 1850, and the church was consecrated in 1856,[4] but it was destroyed by bombing in the Second World War.[3] When the Methodists closed the church, it was sold to the Church of England, and converted for use as an Anglican church. This was consecrated in December 1952.[4]

Architecture

The church is constructed in yellow sandstone with red sandstone dressings.[3] It has a slate roof. The plan consists of a five-bay nave without aisles, shallow transeptal projections, a canted apse at the east end, a west baptistry, and a northeast steeple.[2][3] The tower has angle buttresses, and an entrance under a pointed arch, above which are two lancet windows. Over this are two-light windows with rose windows, and above them are a Lombard frieze, gargoyles, and a pierced parapet.[2] The windows along the sides of the nave have two lights and contain Decorated tracery.[2][3] At the east end of the church is a blocked entrance, with a five-light window above it. Incorporated in the blocked entrance is the foundation stone of the original Anglican church.[2]

See also

References

  1. St Mary, Wavertree, Church of England, retrieved 3 September 2013
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Historic England, "Church of St Mary (1070581)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 3 September 2013
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Pollard, Richard; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2006), Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 493, ISBN 0-300-10910-5
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 The Church of St Mary, Wavertree, Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerks, retrieved 3 September 2013