- St Oswald's Church, Bidston
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St Oswald's Church, Bidston 
St Oswald's Church, Bidston, from the southCoordinates: 53°24′09″N 3°04′02″W / 53.4024°N 3.0671°W OS grid reference SJ 283 903 Location Bidston, Birkenhead,
Wirral, MerseysideCountry England Denomination Anglican Website St Oswald's, Bidston Architecture Status Parish church Functional status Active Heritage designation Grade II Designated 29 July 1950 Architect(s) W. & J. Hay, G. E. Grayson Architectural type Church Style Gothic, Gothic Revival Completed 1882 Specifications Materials Coursed and squared rubble
Westmorland slate roof with ridge crestingAdministration Parish Bidston Deanery Birkenhead Archdeaconry Chester Diocese Chester Province York Clergy Vicar(s) Rev Ron Iveson Curate(s) Rev Jenny Gillies Assistant priest Rev Chris Jones Laity Reader Arthur Sinnott, Rob Morsley, Jayne Morsley Churchwarden(s) Alan Cobham, Pat Chettenden St Oswald's Church, Bidston is in Bidston, an area of Birkenhead, Wirral, Merseyside, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.[1] It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Birkenhead.[2]
Contents
History
The original church dates back to the 13th century.[3] The tower was built in 1520.[4] The rest of the church was rebuilt in 1855–56 by W. and J. Hay in Gothic Revival style. An extension was made to the chancel in 1882 by G. E. Grayson.[5]
Architecture
Exterior
The church is built from coursed and squared rubble in large blocks with a roof of Westmorland slate with ridge cresting. Its plan consists of a west tower, a nave, north and south aisles with gable roofs, a south porch, and a chancel.[1] Heraldic shields over the west door date it between 1504 and 1521.[5] The tower is in three stages with angle buttresses and an embattled parapet.[1]
Interior
In the chancel is a sedilia dated 1882. The reredos is a mosaic depicting The Last Supper by Salviati over which is a wooden canopy frieze.[1] The stained glass includes windows by Morris & Co., Robert Anning Bell, H. Gustave Hiller, H. Hughes, Powell and Frank O. Salisbury.[5] The two-manual organ dating from 1929 is by Henry Willis & Sons.[6] The ring of six bells is by Robert Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, five of which are dated 1868 and the other 1882.[7] The parish registers begin in 1679 and the churchwardens' accounts in 1767.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d "Church of St Oswald, Birkenhead", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1201549, retrieved 11 May 2011
- ^ St Oswald, Bidston, Church of England, http://www.achurchnearyou.com/bidston-st-oswald/, retrieved 11 May 2011
- ^ Salter, Mark (1995), The Old Parish Churches of Cheshire, Malvern: Folly Publications, p. 24, ISBN 1-871731-23-2
- ^ a b Richards, Raymond (1947), Old Cheshire Churches, London: Batsford, pp. 51–54
- ^ a b c Pevsner, Nikolaus; Hubbard, Edward (2003) [1971], Cheshire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 95, ISBN 0-300-09588-0
- ^ Bidston St. Oswald, British Institute of Organ Studies, http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N04426, retrieved 9 August 2008
- ^ Bidston S Oswald, Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=Bidston&Submit=++Go++&DoveID=BIDSTON, retrieved 9 August 2008
Categories:- 1856 architecture
- Buildings and structures completed in 1882
- Buildings and structures in Wirral (borough)
- Church of England churches in Merseyside
- Grade II listed churches
- Grade II listed buildings in Merseyside
- English Gothic architecture
- Gothic Revival architecture in Merseyside
- Diocese of Chester
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