Church of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew

Anglican church built between 1903 and 1904 to designs by the Liverpool architectural practice Willink and Thicknesse in the Free Perpendicular Gothic style.

The church is constructed of red brick laid in English garden wall bond with yellow terracotta dressings, pan-tiled roofs and a slate-covered timber flèche. It occupies a prominent corner position at Stanley Road and St Andrew's Road in Bootle, aligned with the street grid on a north-east to south-west orientation.

The plan comprises a six-bay gabled nave flanked by low passage aisles, a two-bay chancel with a lower gabled roof, an apsidal baptistery at the west end of the north aisle, and a west narthex. A vestry and organ chamber adjoin the chancel to the north and south respectively.

The west front facing Stanley Road features a low five-bay narthex beneath a tall Perpendicular window set in the nave gable. At the centre of the narthex is a projecting gabled entrance containing a square-headed doorway beneath a rusticated terracotta tympanum and a shallow pointed arch of three moulded orders: outer chamfered, cyma reversa and hollow chamfered. Timber-boarded double doors with strap hinges are set within. On either side of the doorway are two bays of two-light, cinquefoil-cusped, square-headed windows. The outer bays project forward with stepped and gabled angle buttresses at each corner. A moulded terracotta stringcourse and red brick parapet with moulded terracotta coping runs above the windows. The narthex has a flat roof except for the two end bays, which are topped by pyramidal caps. The return walls each contain a gabled entrance of similar design to that at the centre. Towering above the narthex is the west window of the nave—a shallow pointed arched window containing seven multifoil-cusped ogee-headed lights beneath elaborate Perpendicular tracery and hoodmould, flanked by two prominent clasping buttresses. The gable wall is enriched with bands of yellow terracotta and surmounted by a coping with a Celtic cross finial at the apex.

The aisles have paired trefoil-cusped, triangular-headed windows separated by stepped buttresses, with terracotta stringcourses running beneath and above. Each aisle is surmounted by a red brick parapet with moulded terracotta coping. An apsidal baptistery extends from the westernmost bay of the north aisle. At clerestory level, gabled buttresses separate the six bays of the nave, with tall single-light clerestory windows under the shallowest of pointed arches, each containing a cinquefoil-cusped ogee-headed light and alternating Perpendicular tracery and trefoils. A lofty slate-covered timber flèche rises near the centre of the roof ridge. The east gable end of the nave matches the west, with cross finial and clasping buttresses.

The chancel, set lower than the nave, has two bays of pointed single-light windows to the side elevations matching those of the nave clerestory. The east gable end contains a pointed arched window of five multifoil lights with Perpendicular tracery. A single-storey vestry of two bays extends from the north side of the chancel, featuring a projecting pointed arched entrance, a square-headed three-light mullioned window and a hipped tile roof. A gabled organ chamber extends from the west end of the south side of the chancel, with two tiers of openings comprising a lower two-light window beneath a stepped three-light window, flanking buttresses and a gabled bellcote.

Interior

The narthex contains a central entrance porch with two side chambers accessed through segmental-headed doorways with glazed timber-boarded doors. It is separated from the nave by an arcade of three pointed stone arches infilled with glazed timber double doors—the central doors with side lights and all with transom lights. The nave arcade consists of six pointed and chamfered arches resting on triangular piers. Open-backed oak benches with shaped ends occupy the main space, having replaced chairs in 1911. A stone pulpit with timber balustrade stands on the north side of the chancel arch, with a First World War memorial plaque on the south side. The nave has a parquet floor and a ceiled timber barrel-vaulted roof with ribs supported on hammer beams with braces resting on stone corbels in the wall.

A small apsidal baptistery opens off the westernmost bay of the north aisle, lit by three stained glass windows and furnished with an octagonal stone font and black ceramic tiled floor. The windows are memorials to the first vicar, Reverend George Jackson (died 1931), and his daughter, Kathleen Moira (died 1928). They depict from left to right: the Old Testament figure of David as a young shepherd playing the harp; Jesus as the Light of the World; and a figure of motherhood holding a child.

The chancel is separated from the nave by a stone dwarf wall and approached via steps leading through a pointed and chamfered arch with hoodmould. It is lined in oak panelling with choir and clergy benches and a priest's door in the north wall. The choir is separated from the sanctuary by a timber altar rail. Further steps lead to an elaborately carved oak altar of three full panels and two half panels with blind cinquefoil-cusped ogee-headed lights, quatrefoils and blind tracery below a cornice. Behind the altar stands an even more ornate oak reredos of seven panels with blind tracery, canopies to side and central panels, a cornice and fretwork cresting. The east window is a First World War memorial of 1921 by Burlison and Grylls, comprising five lights with tracery. The main subject is the Resurrection, with the upper portion showing Jesus risen flanked by angels and the patron saints St Nicholas of sailors and St George of soldiers. The lower portions depict from left to right: Christ stilling the tempest; Christ tending a wounded soldier and sailor; the Arms of the Diocese of Liverpool; Christ offering the crown of life to a veteran; and Constantine's vision of the cross before battle. The base bears the inscription: 'In Memory of the Men who fell, and in honour of those who fought in the Great War, 1914-1918'. The chancel has a timber ceiled wagon roof. The vestry adjoining the north side of the chancel comprises a porch and three vestibules containing oak cupboards, a modern kitchen unit, boiler and WC. Beneath the vestry is a basement accessed by an external stone staircase, which was not accessible at the time of inspection.