Roman Catholic Church Of St Anne

The Roman Catholic Church of St Anne is located on Prescot Road in Ormskirk and was built in 1851, with some small extensions. The church features crazed sandstone cladding, possibly over brick, with sandstone ashlar dressings and a fishscale slate roof, showcasing a decorated style. The nave runs on a north-south axis and includes a south tower, east and west aisles, and a north chancel with a west chapel.

The square tower is supported by angle-buttresses and has a north-east stair-turret. It features a plinth with massive moulded coping, a 2-centred arched trefoil-headed south doorway with a deeply moulded surround and hoodmould with figured stops. There is also an ogival-headed niche that contains a statue of St Anne, a weathered band at the belfry stage with louvred 2-light windows and hoodmoulds, an embattled parapet, and a swept pyramidal roof.

The 6-bay nave is accentuated by pilaster strips and corbel tables, with spherical-triangle clerestory windows. The aisles, supported by buttresses, have 2-centred arched 2-light windows with hoodmoulds featuring foliated stops. The west aisle, which extends alongside the tower, includes a gabled porch at the second bay with a double-chamfered 2-centred arched doorway, and a canted bay with blind arcading at the north end. The chapel to the north has two tall lancets on the side and a 2-centred arched window in the north gable, adorned with reticulated tracery. Most windows are fitted with cast-iron diamond lattice glazing.

Inside, the church has a conventional layout with octagonal columns supporting double-chamfered aisle arcades. The high altar was designed by Edmund Kirby, a Liverpool architect, in 1874 and carved by the sculptor Roddis.