St Ambrose Widnes

St Ambrose Church, Widnes was built in 1882 to a design by James Francis Doyle of Liverpool (b. ca. 1840 d. 1913).

Widnes in the 1870s was a rapidly growing chemical town, with all the problems associated with such growth. Living conditions were poor, houses were overcrowded, brawling was common, drunkenness was rife and murders were not unknown. It was felt that more churches were needed and on May 13th, 1878 it was decided to build a 320 seat church in Halton View on a one acre site presented by Mr. John Bibby, land-owner. The Page Lane Mission was built first and opened on February 16th 1879.

It was soon evident that a larger church would be required and accommodation was sought for 520 people. St Ambrose Church was designed by James Francis Doyle (c. 1840–1913), whose principal area of activity was in Liverpool and the Wirral. At least part of the cost was funded by the Incorporated Church Building Society. The foundation stone was set by the Home Secretary, the Rt. Hon. R. Assheton Cross M.P., during a service conducted by the Vicar of Farnworth on October 8th. 1879. St. Ambrose was opened on Monday March 28th, 1881 with the chancel unfinished. The consecration took place on 6th December l883, when the building was finally paid for. The total cost was £5150, which, of course did not include the cost of the many gifts to the church.

The floor plan of the church is in the traditional gothic style, oriented east-to-west, with a nave and two side aisles, a chancel and an apse-shaped east end. The nave has five arches supported on pillars, with clerestorey windows above the arches. The chancel roof is the same height as the nave. The vestry and organ are off the chancel on the south side. A copy of the original ground-plan as Doyle designed it can be found on the Church Plans Online site [http://www.churchplansonline.org] . (click on "Advanced Search"; enter ICBS number 08404 in the relevant box and click "Start Search").

The octagonal vestry shown there in outline only was eventually built, but the tower was never built, and the only evidence in the building itself that there was to have been a tower is the “blind” arch on the north side of the chancel and the “blind” door at the east end of the north aisle. At a later (unknown) date a lean-to was added to the octagonal vestry to house a toilet and storage for tools for churchyard maintenance. The outside door to the tools store has since been sealed up, presumably due to vandalism etc.

Vicars of St Ambrose

The parish has had 12 vicars to date.

*Sherley Allan Spooner M.A. 1884-88
*George Antonius Le Bert M.A. 1888-98
*Thomas Simcox Lea D.D. 1899-1904
*Herbert Payne Hiscoke M.A. 1904-13
*Willian Robert Johnson M.A. 1913-19
*George Gordon Dawson M.A., B.D. (Cantab.), Ph.D. (London), Surrogate 1919-32
*Joseph Hignett Banks M.A. 1932-55
*Sidney Thomas Goddard 1955-59
*Laurence Hoyle 1959-61
*Norman Francis Lionel Williams 1961-78
*Paul Terence Jones B.A. 1978-2000
*Jeremy Paul Leffler B.Ed., B.Th. 2000-

External links

Further information on the current activities of the church can be found at [http://www.findachurch.co.uk/churches/sj/sj58/stambrose/index.html www.findachurch.co.uk] .