- Church of St. Agnes and St. Pancras, Toxteth Park
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Church of St. Agnes and St. Pancras, Toxteth Park 
53°23′22″N 2°56′23″W / 53.3895°N 2.9398°WCoordinates: 53°23′22″N 2°56′23″W / 53.3895°N 2.9398°W Location Toxteth Park, Liverpool, Merseyside Country England Denomination Anglican Churchmanship High church Website http://www.stagnes.org.uk/ Architecture Status Parish church Functional status Active Heritage designation Grade I Designated 14 March 1975 Architect(s) John Loughborough Pearson Architectural type Church Groundbreaking 1883 Completed 1885 Construction cost £28,000 Specifications Materials Red brick with red sandstone dressings, tile roof Administration Deanery Toxteth and Wavertree Archdeaconry Liverpool Diocese Liverpool Province York Clergy Vicar(s) Fr Christopher Cook The Church of St. Agnes and St. Pancras, Toxteth Park is in Ullet Road, Toxteth Park, Liverpool, Merseyside, England (grid reference SJ375884). It is a Grade I listed building[1] and is an active Anglican church in the diocese of Liverpool, the archdeaconry of Liverpool and the deanery of Toxteth and Wavertree.[2] Pevsner described it as "by far the most beautiful Victorian church of Liverpool...an epitome of Late Victorian nobility in church design".[3]
Contents
History
The church was built between 1883 and 1885 at a cost of £28,000 which was paid for by the stockbroker H. Douglas Horsfall. The architect was John Loughborough Pearson.[3]
Exterior
The church is built in red brick with red sandstone dressings and a tile roof. Its plan consists of a four-bay nave with lean-to aisles and a clerestory, transepts at both ends, a south chapel with lean-to aisles, a short chancel with a canted polygonal apse, and an ambulatory which is flanked by turrets. At the west end are two porches. The west end and the transepts have angle buttresses and gable crosses. Over the east crossing is a lead-covered flèche. The windows are either lancets or have plate tracery.[1][3]
Interior
The interior is lined with Caen stone.[4] The northwest transept contains the baptistry with a marble font[1] carved by Nathaniel Hitch, who also worked with Pearson in Truro Cathedral.[4] The nave has arcades with round piers and balconies above. The northeast transept contains the organ loft which consists of a polygonal platform supported by a central column of black marble surrounded by ten more columns around the edges. The south chapel is the Lady Chapel.[1][3] Its screen of 1904 and reredos of 1904 were designed by G. F. Bodley.[3][5] The ambulatory runs round the apse and is divided from the sanctuary by an arcade with statues of angel musicians in the spandrels. Above this is a frieze in high relief depicting the Adoration of the Lamb, and above this are statues of angels under canopies.[1][3] The high altar reredos was carved by Nathaniel Hitch, as were the apse carvings. The pulpit is carved in Italian marble and depicts the Apostles and Church Fathers.[6] The stained glass includes windows by Kempe and Herbert Bryans.[1][3] The original pipe organ originally built by Wordsworth and Maskell of Leeds, has been unusable since 1996. The fine case and majority of the pipework survive in situ, for restoration should a funds be later made available. The console has been removed and replaced by that of an electronic organ which was made by Hugh Banton.[7][8]
Associated buildings
Behind the church is the vicarage which was built between 1885 and 1887 to a design by Norman Shaw and paid for by H. Douglas Horsfall's mother. It is built in red brick with stone dressings and has two storeys. Its windows are arranged asymmetrically and include a canted oriel window on the street elevation.[3] The vicarage is a Grade II* listed building.[9] Also behind the church and attached to it by a passage is the church hall. It was built probably in 1887 and is also by Shaw. The hall is built in red brick with a tile roof. Its main part has a clerestory and lean-to aisles, and behind this is a smaller single-story room with windows containing tracery. It is listed Grade II.[10]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Images of England: Church of St Agnes, Ullet Road, English Heritage, http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?pid=1&id=359626, retrieved 8 October 2008
- ^ Deanery of Toxteth and Wavertree, The Diocese of Liverpool, http://www.liverpool.anglican.org/index.php?p=383, retrieved 8 October 2008
- ^ a b c d e f g h Pollard, Richard; Nikolaus Pevsner (2006), The Buildings of England: Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West, New Haven & London: Yale University Press, pp. 447–448, ISBN 0 300 10910 5
- ^ The Lady Chapel, St Agnes, Toxteth Park, http://www.stagnes.org.uk/tour3.htm, retrieved 9 October 2008
- ^ The High Altar and Reredos, St Agnes, Toxteth Park, http://www.stagnes.org.uk/tour5.htm, retrieved 9 October 2008
- ^ Liverpool, St. Agnes, Ullet Road, Sefton Park, British Institute of Organ Studies, http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N08585, retrieved 9 October 2008
- ^ The Organ at St Agnes, St Agnes, Toxteth Park, http://www.stagnes.org.uk/tour4.htm, retrieved 9 October 2008
- ^ Images of England: St Agnes' Vicarage, English Heritage, http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?pid=1&id=359627, retrieved 9 October 2008
- ^ Images of England: St Agnes' Church Hall, English Heritage, http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?pid=1&id=359628, retrieved 9 October 2008
Categories:- Grade I listed buildings in Liverpool
- Churches in Liverpool
- Grade I listed churches
- Anglican Diocese of Liverpool
- Church of England churches in Merseyside
- Religious buildings completed in 1885
- 19th-century Anglican church buildings
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