St James' Church is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church in St James Place,

Toxteth Toxteth is an inner-city area of Liverpool in the county of Merseyside. Toxteth is located to the south of Liverpool city centre, bordered by Aigburth, Canning, Liverpool, Canning, Dingle, Liverpool, Dingle, and Edge Hill, Merseyside, Edge Hill ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England. 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, ...

as a designated Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. Having been declared

redundant Redundancy or redundant may refer to: Language * Redundancy (linguistics), information that is expressed more than once Engineering and computer science * Data redundancy, database systems which have a field that is repeated in two or more table ...

in 1974, it returned to active use in 2010 as St James in the City.

History

The church was built in 1774–75 by Cuthbert Bisbrown, who probably also designed it. Originally a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

for the parish of

Walton Walton may refer to: People * Walton (given name) * Walton (surname) * Susana, Lady Walton (1926–2010), Argentine writer Places Canada * Walton, Nova Scotia, a community ** Walton River (Nova Scotia) *Walton, Ontario, a hamlet United Kingd ...

, the church acquired its own parish in 1844. Its congregation, which reflected the area's diverse population of affluent merchants and industrial labourers, included black settlers from West Africa, the Caribbean and America. A new timber roof was added in 1846 by William Culshaw. The

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

, designed by H. Havelock Sutton, was built in 1900. On 1 October 1974 the church was declared redundant, and on 9 June 1976 was

vested In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property are acquired by some Legal person, person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vest ...

in the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

. In 2009, the church was returned to the Liverpool Diocese, and was re-opened in 2010 as the Church of St James in the City. As the building was in a semi-derelict condition, a marquee was erected inside the church to allow the immediate resumption of worship while repair work was ongoing. An urgent roof replacement was carried out between 2011–2012, along with other structural repairs, but the parochial council was unable to secure funding for further work. The marquee was incrementally expanded to meet the needs of the growing congregation, but the building remained unsuitable for full use, due to minor safety issues and a lack of running water. In 2018, however, a kitchen, toilets and an office were installed, and by 2021 the renovation project was complete, with the addition of several new rooms and a mezzanine floor.

Architecture

Exterior

St James is constructed in red brick with stone dressings. 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'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

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 ...

, a

, and a west tower. Along the sides of the nave are two tiers of round-headed windows. The tower is in four stages with an

embattled A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals t ...

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a 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/brea ...

. Its third stage contains clock faces, and in the top stage are paired louvred bell openings.

Graveyard

There used to be graves and vaults in the churchyard. John Lightbody noted his family vault in 1863 as shown in the photograph. John Lightbodys note on St James Churchyard

John Lightbodys note on St James Churchyard

Interior

The architectural style of the interior is "conventionally Georgian". There are galleries on three sides, carried on slim

quatrefoil A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional ...

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

columns. The columns are the earliest existing examples in Liverpool of cast iron columns, and are one of the earliest examples of them in England. The timber roof is open, with

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

-style arches. The east window is stained glass designed by

Henry Holiday Henry Holiday (17 June 183915 April 1927) was an English Victorian painter of historical genre and landscapes, also a stained-glass designer, illustrator, and sculptor. He was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, many of whom he knew. ...

, dated 1881. There are monuments dating from the late-18th and the early-19th centuries. Many of the monuments relate to the

slave trade Slave trade may refer to: * History of slavery - overview of slavery It may also refer to slave trades in specific countries, areas: * Al-Andalus slave trade * Atlantic slave trade ** Brazilian slave trade ** Bristol slave trade ** Danish sl ...

. File:Roof trusses, St James, Liverpool.jpg, Restored roof, 2017 File:Clarke memorial, St James, Liverpool.jpg, Memorial plaque to Henry Percy Clarke of the King's Liverpool Regiment, killed in World War I File:View to east window, St James, Liverpool.jpg, Towards the east window File:Walls, gates & railings of St James church 1.jpg, Grade II listed walls, gates and railings

References