St. George's Church, Everton
St George's Church in Everton, Liverpool, is a Grade I listed building.
It is the earliest of three churches in Liverpool designed by architect Thomas Rickman and built by his friend John Cragg, using many components in cast iron, made at his Mersey Iron Foundry.
The foundation stone was laid on 19 April 1813 and the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Chester on 26 October 1814. The architect was Thomas Rickman.
The outer shell of the church is built in sandstone. Extensive use is made of Gothic-style iron castings for the interior structure (columns, roof-beams, braces and panels) and decoration and for the windows.
1814 Consecration: '... The church is built in the Gothic style, and we can only add, that it is considered as one of the handsomnest structures of the kind in the kingdom, and does infinite credit to the contractor, John Cragg, Esq. of a the Mersey Iron-Foundry. Its length from east to west is 119 feet, by 47 broad, and the height of the tower when completed, will be 96 feet, from which a more extensive and truly picturesque view, both of land and sea, is not to be exceeded in the United Kingdom.'[1]
NOTE: Check for opening times before visiting.
Church website here.
The second church in the series was St. Michael's in Cragg's village, St. Michael's Hamlet (Aigburth), opened in 1814 or 1815. The exterior was clad in brick.
The third example was St. Philip's, Hardman Street, completed in 1816. The church was closed in 1882 and most of its stained glass and furnishings were said to have been moved to a new St Philip’s Church in Sheil Road. The building was sold to the Salvation Army, who built a new building around it, with a terraced frontage on Hardman Street. Various uses followed, until 2017 when the building was demolished to make way for yet another student accommodation block. It had been claimed that little of significance was left of the church, but demolition revealed walls containing large Gothic cast iron windows - some still glazed! For more information and photos, see here[2]. More photos here[3]. The complexity and slenderness of the window frame castings demonstrate the very highest standards of foundrywork.