St Mary's Church, Presbytery and Convent, Little Crosby

St Mary's Church, Presbytery and Convent, Little Crosby
St Mary's Church, Little Crosby
St Mary's Church, Presbytery and Convent, Little Crosby Location in Merseyside
Coordinates: 53°30′28″N 3°01′39″W / 53.5077°N 3.0275°W / 53.5077; -3.0275
OS grid reference	SD 320 017
Location	Back Lane, Little Crosby, Sefton, Merseyside
Country	England
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	St Mary, Little Crosby
History
Founder(s)	William Blundell
Consecrated	7 September 1847
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	20 December 1996
Architect(s)	Weightman and Hadfield
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival (Decorated)
Groundbreaking	1845
Completed	1847
Specifications
Materials	Sandstone, slate roofs
Clergy
Priest(s)	Fr Dunstan Harrington

St Mary's Church, Presbytery and Convent are in Back Lane, Little Crosby, Sefton, Merseyside, England. The church is an active Roman Catholic parish church in the diocese of Liverpool which was built in 1845–47. The presbytery and convent were both built in the 18th century, and altered in the 19th century. The convent originated as a chapel, and has since been converted into a private dwelling. Both the church and the former convent with its attached presbytery are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as designated Grade II listed buildings.

The Blundell family of Crosby Hall have been lords of the manor of Little Crosby since the Middle Ages. A recusant Roman Catholic family, they built a chapel and a presbytery near the hall in the early 18th century. There is a date stone on the rear wing of the presbytery dated 1719, and there is surviving 18th-century fabric in the rear windows of the former chapel.

The church was built in 1845–47 and was designed by Weightman and Hadfield, It was paid for by William Blundell, and consecrated on 7 September 1847. Both the presbytery and the chapel were then much altered, the chapel being converted into a convent and schoolroom. In 1883 a south chapel in the form of a transept was added to the church. Later the convent became a private dwelling.

The church is built in coursed sandstone rubble, and it has slate roofs. Its architectural style is simple Decorated Gothic. The design of the church was influenced by Pugin. Its plan consists of a nave, north and south full-height four-bay aisles, a north porch, a chancel with a transeptal chapel to the south and two offices to the north, and a west steeple. The steeple consists of a three-stage tower with angle buttresses and a broach spire. In the middle stage of the tower is a three-light west window, and the top stage contains a two-light window on each side. Between the broaches of the spire are gabled lucarnes containing louvres. The windows along the side of the aisle have two lights.