The Church of Our Lady Star of the Sea is in Wheatland Lane,
Seacombe,
Wallasey
Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Pe ...
,
Wirral,
Merseyside, England. It is an active
Roman Catholic parish church in the
diocese of Shrewsbury, and its parish is combined with that of St Joseph, Wallasey.
The church is recorded in the
National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II
listed building.
History
In 1860 the Seacombe Mission was founded by St Alban's Church, Liscard, and the Roman Catholics of Seacombe first worshipped in the upper room of a house. In 1862 a combined school and chapel were built. The local population was growing, and in 1870 a plot of land was bought, and a presbytery and school were erected. No church was built at this time, part of the school being used as a chapel. In 1883, following a legacy left by a local resident, it was agreed that some of the money should be used to finance the building of a church.
Edmund Kirby was chosen as the architect, the foundation stone was laid in 1888, and the church opened in July 1889.
[
The church was damaged slightly by bombs in the Second World War, following which it was renovated. It was reordered following the Second Vatican Council, and there was a more substantial reordering in 2006.][
]
Architecture
Exterior
The church is built in stone with a slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
roof. Its plan consists of a five-bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
nave with a clerestory
In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both.
Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...
, north and south aisles under lean-to roofs, a south chapel, and a chancel with a canted
Cant, CANT, canting, or canted may refer to:
Language
* Cant (language), a secret language
* Beurla Reagaird, a language of the Scottish Highland Travellers
* Scottish Cant, a language of the Scottish Lowland Travellers
* Shelta or the Cant, a lan ...
apse. The west front has an arched doorway with a sexfoil in the tympanum. This is flanked by gabled buttresses. Above the doorway are five lancet window
A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...
s. At the top of the west front is a gable containing a large rose window
Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' w ...
. At the west end of the aisles are paired windows with a cinquefoil above. Along the south side of the aisle and on both sides of the clerestory are lancets. On the north side of the church are two gabled transeptal bays with rose windows forming confessionals. There is also a gabled porch and a baptistry
In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...
. At the east end of the chancel is a three-light window, and on the sides are lancets.[ The east window contains ]Geometrical
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ca ...
tracery.
Interior
Inside the church the nave and chancel are in one vessel with a single waggon roof
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...
. The five-bay arcades are carried on round piers Piers may refer to:
* Pier, a raised structure over a body of water
* Pier (architecture), an architectural support
* Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name)
* Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...
. The octagonal pulpit
A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...
is in stone with clustered shafts in marble.[ The high altar and the ]reredos
A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images.
The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...
date from about 1900 and are panelled with coloured marble. Flanking the chancel arch are canopied statues of Our Lady and Saint Joseph
Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...
. The stained glass in the east window is in memory of those who fell in the First World War.[
]
See also
* Listed buildings in Wallasey
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallasey, Our Lady of the Sea
Grade II listed churches in Merseyside
Roman Catholic churches in Merseyside
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1889
Gothic Revival church buildings in England
Gothic Revival architecture in Merseyside
Our Lady of the Sea
Churches in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom
Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury