St Alban - Liscard

Introduction

St Alban's Parish was founded in 1841. The foundation stone was laid on 8th June 1852 and the church opened exactly fifteen months later.

History

The land for the church in Mill Lane was acquired with a £150 deposit from Doctor Briggs, the Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District, and other money from collections, donations and bequests. In 1899 the church was completely renovated and five years later the spire had to be partly taken down and rebuilt. The omission of the south-west aisle caused subsidence which had to be checked by building huge external buttresses in 1920/21. The grand altar and the vast north-west gable window with stained glass were destroyed in the blitz in 1941.

In 1977 the Sanctuary was re-ordered in accordance with the norms of the Second Vatican Council. In 1991, as part of preparation for the 150th anniversary celebrations, the church was rewired and re-fitted with the most modern lighting system available.

The church was built in 1852-3 by S.R. Eyre and J.A. Hansom. In 2004 the church underwent a re-ordering with advice from the Historical Churches Commission, and the new altar was dedicated on 4th November 2004. The parish has established a link with the Catholic Communities in Siem Reap and Taom in Cambodia.

Architecture and furnishings

The interior has a 6-bay arcade on quatrefoil piers with fillets, a timber west gallery with cusped panels, and a chancel with C20 fittings and 3 timber sedilia. The Lady chapel altar and altar rail have pierced tracery and the walls are stencilled. The church is a Grade II listed building, first listed on 20-Jan-1988. The tower has weathered angle buttresses, a west entrance of 2 orders with ogee hood mould, a niche with cusped arch, and top 2-light louvred bell openings.

The church has a broach spire with lucarnes and an east side canted stair turret with spirelet. The nave has a 4-light west window with Decorated tracery above a later shallow confessional bay with plate tracery windows. The south side has 2-light aisle windows between buttresses, a gabled porch to the 2nd bay, and the 1st bay projects with straight-headed windows. The clerestory has spherical triangle windows, one with louvre. The chancel has a north gabled vestry and an east 4-light window between angle buttresses; the south chapel has 3-light south and east windows.