St Mary's Church is in Church Road,

Woolton Woolton (; ) is an affluent suburb of Liverpool, England. It is located southeast of the city and is bordered by Allerton, Gateacre, Halewood, and Hunt's Cross. At the 2011 Census, the population was 12,921. Overview Originally a standalone ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

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, Wir ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It is an active

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the Liverpool South Deanery of the

Archdiocese of Liverpool The Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool ( la, Archidioecesis Liverpolitana) is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church that covers the Isle of Man and part of North West England. The episcopal see is Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. The archdiocese ...

. The church 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 I ...

History

The church was built in 1859–60, and designed by R. W. Hughes, an architect from

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

. It was opened on 28 October 1860. The church was re-decorated in 1981–82, and the

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a " sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mo ...

was moved to the front of the church. The church's foundation stone was laid 11 September 1859. The Church was known as Saint Benet's until 1881 when it became known as Saint Mary's.

The Catholic Mission in Woolton

A Catholic community has been present for over 300 years. It has had a very varied and interesting history. Notable dates include:

Priests who have served at Saint Mary's

*1862–1873: J.P. O’Brien OSB *1873–1880: P. Whittle OSB *1880–1891: W. Bede Prest OSB *1891–1894: H.G. Murphies OSB *1895–1896: J.W. Richards OSB *1896–1897: C.J. Fitzgerald OSB *1897–1909: Ambrose A. Pereria OSB *1909: A.F. Fleming OSB *1909–1913: Vincent Corney OSB *1913–1919: H.M. Campbell OSB *1919–1928: J.M. Kelly OSB *1928: E.D. Fennell OSB Assistant priests during the above years *B.M. Sutter OSB, A.J. McEvoy OSB, T.L. Almond OSB, Vincent Corney OSB, H.W. McKay OSB, P. O’Callaghan OSB, J.R. Riley OSB, J.G. Dolan OSB, C de Neubourg OSB, J.R. Rylance OSB, L.S. Cave OSB, E.D. Fennell OSB, R.V. Gilbertson OSB, J.M. Kelly OSB, F.A. Harrington OSB, T.P. Worsley-Warwick OSB ''In 1928 the Benedictines then departed after two centuries of service; Mill Hill Fathers become Rectors'' *1928–1930: Fr. Herman Drontman *1930–1931: Fr. Martin Onsten *Assistant: Fr. William Ross The first secular priest Fr. Charles Gelderd was appointed by Archbishop Richard Downey in 1931. As Fr. Pat O’Brien's retirement approached, the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer better known as the Redemptorists were asked by Archbishop Patrick Kelly to take over the Pastoral Care of St. Mary's. This would be in addition to their parish of Our Lady of the Annunciation of Bishop Eton. The Parishes would not be merged but would continue to exist in their own right.

Architecture

Exterior

St Mary's is constructed in red

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 silicat ...

and has 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. It is orientated with the ritual east facing the northwest. The 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, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...

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-typ ...

with a north porch but without

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, pa ...

s, large north and south

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building with ...

s, a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. ...

with north and south chapels and

sacristies A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually located ...

. There is no tower. At the west end are diagonal

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 (s ...

es, an entrance, and pointed windows containing

Geometric 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 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 ...

. The windows along the sides of the nave have two lights. In the south transept is a four-light window, and the north transept contains two two-light windows with a

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' ...

above. In the chapel is a five-light window flanked by diagonal buttresses. The chapels are

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 aest ...

d with two-light windows. The south sacristy has one and two lights, with a rose window in the gable.

Interior

Inside the church, the high altar and

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 e ...

date from 1865, and were probably designed by E. W. Pugin. They were separated in 1948–50 by Weightman and Bullen, who placed the reredos against the east wall. The stained glass in the east window dates from 1878, and is a typical design by the Belgian

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

painter

Jean-Baptiste Capronnier Jean-Baptiste Capronnier (1 February 1814 – 31 July 1891) was a Belgian stained glass painter. Born in Brussels, Belgium in 1814, he had much to do with the modern revival of glass-painting, and first made his reputation by his study of the ol ...

. The two-

manual Manual may refer to: Instructions * User guide * Owner's manual An owner's manual (also called an instruction manual or a user guide) is an instructional book or booklet that is supplied with almost all technologically advanced consumer ...

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks' ...

was built by Franklin Lloyd in 1895, and is situated in a gallery on the north wall of the church at the west end.

Associated buildings

Presbytery

The presbytery was built in 1864, and designed by E. W. Pugin. It is constructed in stone, and has a

roof. The presbytery has two storeys and a front of three

bays 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, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...

, the outer bays projecting under gables. In the centre bay is a gablet, and the third bay contains a single-storey canted

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. Types Bay window is a generic term for all protruding window constructions, regardless of whether they are curved or angular, or ...

. The presbytery is connected on the left by a single-storey corridor with a central gabled entrance and a ridge

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable spac ...

. It is designated as a Grade II listed building.

Parish Centre (Formally Much Woolton Catholic Primary School)

The school was built in 1869, with its entrance in Mount Street. It is constructed in red sandstone with a slate roof. The school is in two storeys and has a nine-

front, the central bay projecting forward under a

. The windows in the ground floor have three lights under

ogee An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinat ...

heads; those in the upper floor have two lights under cusped heads. In the gable of the projecting wing is a

. The school is also listed at Grade II. The school building is now used at the Parish Hall and the ground floor is a Nursery.

References and notes

Notes Citations {{DEFAULTSORT:Woolton, Saint Mary

Saint Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

Grade II listed churches in Merseyside Roman Catholic churches in Liverpool Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Merseyside Roman Catholic churches completed in 1860 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Redemptorist churches in the United Kingdom