St George's Church is in
Lord Street,
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Iris ...
,
Sefton,
Merseyside
Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...
, England, and is an active
United Reformed Church
The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers.
Origins and history
The United Reformed Church resulte ...
. It is recorded in the
National Heritage List for England
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...
as a designated Grade II
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
History
The church was built in 1873–74 as a
Presbyterian Church and was designed by Thomas Wylie.
It was altered in 1931 by Irvine and Mosscrip, and later became a United Reformed Church.
Architecture
Exterior
St George's is constructed in
coursed rock-faced
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
rubble
Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...
and has a
slate roof.
[ Its architectural style is that of about 1300.][ The church consists of a five bay ]nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
, and a west steeple
In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religi ...
consisting of a three-stage tower with a tall broach spire.[ The tower has angle ]buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...
es, and in its lowest stage is a west doorway with a porch. The porch has a steep gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
and is elaborately decorated with colonnettes, crocket
A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of crockets to a bishop's crosier.
Description
...
ed coping
Coping refers to conscious strategies used to reduce unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviours and can be individual or social.
Theories of coping
Hundreds of coping strategies have been proposed in an attempt to ...
, and a finial. In the middle stage is a triple niche
Niche may refer to:
Science
*Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development
*Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species
*Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...
with crocketed trefoils, and in the top stage are pairs of two-light louvred bell openings with hood mould
In architecture, a hood mould, hood, label mould (from Latin ''labia'', lip), drip mould or dripstone, is an external moulded projection from a wall over an opening to throw off rainwater, historically often in form of a ''pediment''. This mouldin ...
s. Above these are an arcaded frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
, a pierced parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...
, and corner pinnacles. On the spire are two tiers of lucarne
In general architecture a lucarne is a term used to describe a dormer window. The original term french: lucarne refers to a dormer window, usually set into the middle of a roof although it can also apply to a façade lucarne, where the gable of t ...
s.[ At the west end of the nave, flanking the tower, are arched doorways with two-light arched windows above. The bays of the nave are separated by ]buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...
es, and each bay contains a three-light window with plate tracery
Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...
.[
]
Interior
The interior of the church consists of a single nave. At the west end is a wooden and glazed arcaded screen.[ There is another screen at the east end; this is wooden, arcaded, in ]Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
style, and is integrated with a dais and reading desk. There are two schemes of stained glass in the windows, one by Heaton, Butler and Bayne
Heaton, Butler and Bayne were an English firm who produced stained-glass windows from 1862 to 1953.
History
Clement Heaton (1824–82) Fleming, John & Hugh Honour. (1977) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts. '' London: Allen Lane, p. 371 ...
, and the other by Shrigley and Hunt
Shrigley and Hunt was an English firm which produced stained-glass windows and art tiles.
History
The business began in the 1750s when Shrigley's was a painting, carving and gilding firm in Lancaster, Lancashire.
In 1868, control of Shrigley' ...
.[
]
Appraisal
On 15 November 1972 the church was designated as a Grade II listed building.[ Grade II is the lowest of the three grades of listing and is applied to buildings that are "nationally important and of special interest".
]
Present day
As an active United Reformed Church it organises service and various group activities, and also provides morning coffee for the general public.
See also
* Listed buildings in Southport
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Southport, St George's Church
Grade II listed churches in Merseyside
Churches completed in 1874
Gothic Revival church buildings in England
Gothic Revival architecture in Merseyside
United Reformed churches in England
Buildings and structures in Southport