Great Crosby Wesleyan Chapel and Schools

NEW WESLEYAN CHAPEL, GREAT CROSBY, LIVERPOOL - A Wesleyan chapel has recently been opened in the village of Great Crosby, near Liverpool. Its style is Norman. The front consists of a gable with interlacing arches on carved corbels, a three-light window, and a porch with very rich massive arches

and polished granite columns, terminating at both ends with towers—one on the north being 80 feet high up to the top of the stone roof, the other considerably shorter—both forming good entrances to the schoolrooms and vestries below. A broad flight of steps goes from tower to tower, and forms an imposing entrance to the church through the arches of the porch alluded to. The walls are of grey stone, from Upholland, with dressings of white stone, which makes an agreeable contrast. Internally the comfort of the congregation has been most successfully studied, and the seats are so arranged that all sit with their faces direct towards the minister, and, through an inclination in the floor, no one sits in the way of is neighbour, but all have an equal view, not only of the minister, but of the altar or communion, which is formed by an apse having three sides filled in with rich stained glass windows, by Lavers and Barraud, of London. The arch in front of the apse is a good specimen of the style, and the stone columns between it and the smaller arches on each side are enriched to correspond. The organ (by Gray and Davidson of London) is placed in one of the spaces at the side of the apse, the other being occupied by the stairs. All the smaller arches are filled in with elaborate pitch-pine screen-work, with curtains of blue cloth festooned behind, which, with the maroon and gold tablets, the blue apse carpet the velvet cushions, and the crimson cushions and carpets to the seats, make up a general effect rarely equalled. The pulpit is richly worked in Caen stone, by Mr. Shaw, of Brownlow Hill. The lighting, which is novel and effective, is arranged on the wall in the form of a chevron, or zigzag, with curved ends, in lengths between the roof principals. The total cost of erection, including the endowment, organ, and fittings is estimated at about £5,000. The architect was Mr. C. O. Ellison, of Liverpool; and the builders were Messrs W and F Witter. [Civil Engineer and Architects Journal 1 September 1863 page 257].

Reference    Liverpool Daily Post 21 July 1862
Reference    Liverpool Daily Post 18 July 1863
Reference    Civil Engineer and Architects Journal 1 September 1863 page 257