Christ Church

BIRKENHEAD

SJ38NW CHRISTCHURCH ROAD, Oxton 789-1/4/219 (South side) 28/03/74 Christ Church

GV II

Parish Church. 1844. By W.Jearrad. Tooled ashlar faced with Welsh slate roofs. West tower with spire, nave, transepts and chancel on sloping site with undercroft towards liturgical east. 2-stage tower with advanced ogival arch with clustered shafts to west door, quatrefoil and clock over. Paired glazed lights above. Plain block corbel table. Brooch spire with lucarnes. Nave of 6 bays divided by buttresses capped by pinnacles. Each bay has wide lancet window with lattice glazing in double chamfered surround. 2 bays to 2-storeyed transepts. Transept gable walls divided 1-3-1 by buttresses, with stepped window to main storey and rose window over. Doorway in steep projecting gablet toward east. East wall has paired lancets in aisles over gabletted buttresses, and doorway in south aisle. Stepped lancets to chancel, with rose window over in full-height archway. Triple lancets lighting hall below. Interior: Undivided nave of 6 bays with west gallery and raking galleries to transepts. Original roof replaced. Original seating and choir stalls survive virtually intact. Willis organ. Two low-relief panels by T.Kelly as memorial to James and Agnes Roper. Stained glass: Series of late C19-early C20 windows in nave in medieval and Pre-Raphaelite styles, including two early C20 windows signed by Jones and Willis. Angels in rose windows over transepts. The church is said to have been built as a speculation, and was therefore designed for no particular liturgical practice. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N and Hubbard E: Cheshire: Harmondsworth: 1971-).

Listing NGR: SJ3091087867