From a drawing by T. Allom, in the Mayer Papers, Liverpool Free Public Library.
ON December 13, 1802, a Select Committee was appointed to carry into effect the order of the Council which was made as far back as the 2nd day of January 1793, for erecting a church on a piece of land purchased for that purpose and situated on the north-east side of Berry Street, opposite the south end of Renshaw Street and Bold Street. The foundation stone was not laid until 1811, when the Mayor, James Drinkwater, performed the ceremony. The work progressed very slowly, and for some reason ceased; but was proceeded with again with some show of energy in 1826, and the church was completed in 1831. The design is attributed to John Foster, the Corporation architect, and the architecture has been freely criticized. One very competent critic states that it shows copyism in every line, and describes it as a rifacciamento of scraps put together with much painstaking care ; whilst another critic writing at about the same date says, “it is a chaste specimen of the decorative Gothic order that may vie with any similar erection in the Kingdom.”
The engraving presents a north-west view of the church, and shows (on the left) the south end of Renshaw Street; on the right the cast end of Bold Street ; and, in the middle distance, Berry Street, and the tower of St. Mark’s Church, Upper Duke Street. On account of real or supposed danger, this tower was taken down in the year 1830; the whole church has just been demolished in order that another open space for the people may be obtained. The drawing is undated, but it was engraved in 1829.
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Bibliography
Muir, Ramsay, et al. Bygone Liverpool. Liverpool: Young, 1913. Internet Archive online version of a copy in the University of Toronto Library. Web. 29 September 2022.
Last modified 29 September 2022