St Michael's Church, Garston

St Michael's Church, Garston
St Michael's Church, Garston, from the north
St Michael's Church, Garston Location in Merseyside
Coordinates: 53°21′08″N 2°53′49″W / 53.3521°N 2.8970°W
OS grid reference	SJ 404,843
Location	Church Road, Garston, Merseyside
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Michael, Garston
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	19 June 1985
Architect(s)	Thomas D. Berry and Son
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1875
Completed	1877
Specifications
Materials	Sandstone, slate roofs
Administration
Parish	Garston
Deanery	Liverpool South Childwall
Archdeaconry	Liverpool
Diocese	Liverpool
Province	York
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Revd Roland Harvey

St Michael's Church is in Church Road, Garston, a district of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Liverpool South Childwall, the archdeaconry of Liverpool, and the diocese of Liverpool.^[1] The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.^[2] It is located on an industrial site between gas holders and a railway.^[3]

History

The first church on the site was built in 1225, and the second in 1715.^[4] The present church was built between 1875 and 1877 and was designed by Thomas D. Berry and Son.^[3] The church has a historical connection with the Norris and the Watt families of Speke Hall.^[4]

Architecture

Exterior

St Michael's is built in buff rock-faced yellow sandstone with red ashlar dressings and slate roofs. Its plan consists of a nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles under lean-to roofs, a south porch, north and south transepts, a chancel with an apse and chapels, and a northwest tower.^[2][3] The tower has angle buttresses, and a north entrance with a crocketed hood, over which is a two-light window. Above this are clock faces on three sides, three bell openings, a frieze, a cornice, gargoyles, and an embattled parapet. At the west end is a three-light window containing Geometrical tracery, and along the sides of the aisles and clerestory are two-light windows. The windows in the transepts have four lights, and those in the chapels have three lights. The chapel and the porch are gabled.^[2]

Interior

In the church, the reredos has panels containing opus sectile and mosaic. Around the church are Stations of the Cross designed as a frieze by May L. G. Cooksey. In the chancel are windows containing stained glass dated 1886 by Shrigley and Hunt.^[3] The original two-manual pipe organ was built by Franklin Lloyd.^[5] It has been superseded by another two-manual organ, this installed by Rushworth and Dreaper in 1938, and rebuilt by the same company in 1967.^[6] There is a ring of eight bells, cast by John Warner & Sons in 1877 and 1878. There is also a Sanctus bell of 1882 by the same company.^[7]

External features

In the churchyard is a shaft, dating possibly from the 17th century, and maybe part of a sundial.^[3]

See also

• Grade II listed buildings in Liverpool-L19

References

1. St Michael, Garston, Garston, Church of England, retrieved 28 August 2013
2. Historic England, "Church of St Michael, Garston (1068324)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 28 August 2013
3. Pollard, Richard; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2006), Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 429, ISBN 0-300-10910-5
4. Parish Representation Paper (pdf), St Michael's Church, Garston, 3 May 2011, retrieved 28 August 2013
5. Lancashire (Merseyside), Garston, St. Michael (N10818), British Institute of Organ Studies, retrieved 28 August 2013
6. Lancashire (Merseyside), Garston, St. Michael (N10823), British Institute of Organ Studies, retrieved 28 August 2013
7. Liverpool Garston, S Michael, Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, retrieved 28 August 2013