St John's Church is in Liscard Road,

Egremont, Merseyside Egremont is an area of Wallasey, in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. Historically part of Cheshire and in the north east of the Wirral Peninsula, it is bordered by New Brighton to the north, Liscard to the west and Sea ...

, England. It is a

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 ...

Anglican parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

, formerly in the

diocese of Chester The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York covering the pre-1974 county of Cheshire and therefore including the Wirral and parts of Stockport, Trafford and Tameside. History Ancient diocese Before the si ...

. 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, ...

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 ...

History

St John's was built in 1832–33, and was designed by Henry Turberville Edwards; it is his only known work. The church was built on land owned by Sir John Tobin, whose son became the first vicar. The church was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

on 31 October 1831 by the Rt. Revd.

John Bird Sumner John Bird Sumner (25 February 1780 – 6 September 1862) was a bishop in the Church of England and Archbishop of Canterbury. Early life John Bird Sumner was born in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, on 25 February 1780. He was the eldest son of the Re ...

bishop of Chester The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York. The diocese extends across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the ...

, and it opened for worship on 19 May 1833. In 1881 it was

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004, by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard Aus ...

Cornelius Sherlock Cornelius Sherlock (bapt. 28 February 1823 – 20 January 1888) was a British architect who was active in Liverpool in North West England in the late 19th century. Sherlock is best known as one of the architects responsible for the Walker Art G ...

; this included removing the galleries, replacing

box pew A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in c ...

s with benches, moving the organ, enclosing 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 ...

, and adding two new windows. In 1942 the church was damaged by bomb blast, and was repaired in the 1950s with a new roof. It was declared redundant on 1 July 2004, and approval for conversion into residential use was agreed on 6 December 2006. As of August 2018 the church was put into private ownership with the intention of reopening it as Church again.

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built in stone from

Storeton Storeton is a small village and former civil parish in the Wirral district, in the county of Merseyside, England, on the Wirral Peninsula. It is west of the town of Bebington and is made up of Great Storeton and Little Storeton, which is classi ...

quarry, and is in Neoclassical style. On the entrance front is a Doric

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

consisting of four

fluted Fluting may refer to: *Fluting (architecture) *Fluting (firearms) *Fluting (geology) * Fluting (glacial) *Fluting (paper) *Playing a flute (musical instrument) Arts, entertainment, and media *Fluting on the Hump ''Fluting on the Hump'' is the ...

columns without bases, carrying an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

with a

triglyph Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze in classical architecture, so called because of the angular channels in them. The rectangular recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric frieze are ...

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

and a

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

. Flanking the portico are windows with

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

s and pediments. There are six similar windows along each side of the church, and running round the church above them is a panelled

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 ...

. At the rear, the narrower chancel projects under a pediment. On its rear wall is a blind window with four

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s and an entablature with wreathes.

Interior

Inside the church is an elliptical chancel arch. When the building was in use as a church, it had a tripartite painted

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

, and there were paintings round the walls of the

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 ...

. The

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

was in

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral and a soft Rock (geology), rock used for carvings and as a source of plaster powder. Archaeologists, geologists, and the stone industry have different definitions for the word ''alabaster''. In archaeology, the term ''alab ...

, it stood on three

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

steps, and was supported by carved angels. It was decorated with cherubs' heads and

gadrooning Gadrooning is a decorative motif consisting of convex curving shapes in relief in a series. In furniture and other decorative arts, it is an ornamental carved band of tapered, curving and sometimes alternating concave and convex sections, usually ...

. The timber

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, accesse ...

was part of a former two-decker. The ceiling has a span of , which makes it the largest unsupported ceiling in Merseyside. The original

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

was made by Bewsher and Fleetwood and had two manuals. This was enlarged to three manuals in 1902 by Hele and Company. It was further enlarged in 1925 by

Henry Willis Henry Willis (27 April 1821 – 11 February 1901), also known as "Father" Willis, was an English organ player and builder, who is regarded as the foremost organ builder of the Victorian era. His company Henry Willis & Sons remains in bus ...

, repaired following bomb damage in the 1950s by

Rushworth and Dreaper Rushworth and Dreaper was a firm of organ builders, and later general instrument suppliers associated with Paul McCartney, based in Liverpool. The manufacturer was founded in 1828 by William Rushworth (organ builder), William Rushworth. In th ...

, cleaned in the 1970s by Cowin, and restored in 1999 by

Harrison and Harrison Harrison & Harrison Ltd is a British company based in Durham that makes and restores pipe organs. It was established in Rochdale in 1861. It is well known for its work on instruments such as King's College, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey, and th ...

. After the church was closed, the organ was moved by David Wells to St James' Church, New Brighton.

Graveyard

The war memorial in the churchyard was designated as a Grade II

on 4 January 2022. The memorial commemorates the First World War 1914-1918. It had a brass plaque inside the church but has been removed.It commemorated 96 people who lost their lives from the parish in WW1.

References