Church of Saint John the Baptist, Liverpool | |
---|---|
Church of Saint John the Baptist, Liverpool
|
|
Coordinates: 53°25′29″N 2°55′48″W / 53.4248°N 2.9301°W | |
OS grid reference | SJ 382 924 |
Location | Tuebrook, Liverpool |
Country | England |
Denomination | Anglican |
Churchmanship | Anglo-Catholic |
Architecture | |
Status | Parish church |
Functional status | Active |
Heritage designation | Grade I |
Designated | 28 June 1958 |
Architect(s) | George Frederick Bodley |
Architectural type | Church |
Style | Gothic Revival |
Groundbreaking | 1867 |
Completed | 1870 |
Construction cost | £25,000 |
Specifications | |
Materials | Red and buff stone Tile and slate roofs |
Administration | |
Deanery | West Derby |
Archdeaconry | Liverpool |
Diocese | Liverpool |
Province | York |
The Church of Saint John the Baptist is on the corner of West Derby Road and Green Lane, in Tuebrook, Liverpool, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Liverpool, the archdeaconry of Liverpool and the deanery of West Derby.
The church was built between 1867 and 1870, its cost of £25,000 (equivalent to £2,157,276 in 2015), being totally met by the wife of Revd J. C. Reade. The architect was George Frederick Bodley. The interior was redecorated in 1910 by Henry Hare to Bodley's design. This was restored in 1968–71 by Stephen Dykes Bower.
There was controversy before the church was consecrated because Bodley intended to use an early 16th-century altarpiece from Antwerp which had carved tableaux of the Passion as the reredos. However the Bishop of Chester considered it to be too "Popish" and he refused to consecrate the church until it was removed. The altarpiece is now in St Michael's Church, Brighton.
The church is built in red and buff stone, which is irregularly banded. The main roof is tiled, while the roofs of the aisles are of slate. Its plan consists of a five-bay nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles under lean-to roofs, a west tower, a north porch, a chancel with a chapel to the north, the organ loft to the south and a detached vestry connected to the chancel by a short passage. The tower has angled buttresses and a west entrance above which is a three-light window. The top stage has two-light louvred bell-openings and a panelled parapet with pinnacles at the corners. The spire is recessed on an octagonal base containing gabled two-light openings and it is attached to the pinnacles by flying buttresses. At the south east corner of the tower is a lean-to stair turret. The porch has a flat roof with a parapet and a niche over the entrance containing a statue.