St. Patrick, Toxteth

Introduction

Saint Patrick's Church in Toxteth, within the Archdiocese of Liverpool, was built between 1821 and 1827 to the design of John Slater.

History

Matthew Connor led the Society of Saint Patrick, which raised £14,000, purchased land in Park Place from the Earl of Sefton, and commissioned John Slater to design a church seating 1,800. Bishop Penswick celebrated the opening Mass on 22 August 1827, having agreed to the Society's lease of 5,000 years guaranteeing the ground floor would be freely accessible to the poor in perpetuity. The first rector, who served from 1827 to 1837, later became the first Bishop of Adelaide. The longest-serving priest was Canon Edward Goethals, who served from 1863 to 1921.

Between 1827 and 1854 at least 15,000 people were buried in the crypt and the graveyard. The parish offers marriage preparation programs. The parish offers a Confirmation program.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is brick with stone dressings and slate roofs, with a 4-bay west front under a pediment with Calvary cross. The interior has a gallery on three sides on iron columns. The church has an elaborate baldachino of 1953 with Corinthian columns and ornate entablature, the painting under it being 1834 by de Keyser.

The statue of Saint Patrick was given in 1827 by James Brancker, a local sugar refiner. The church has de Keyser's enormous painting of the Crucifixion (1834) and J C Bishop's pipe organ (1830).

The west front has a pediment with a Calvary cross, ground-floor segmental headed windows, and first-floor round-headed windows. The church has a recessed stair and a wing with Doric tetrastyle porches, blind windows above, and entrances in architraves. The interior has a segmental arched ceiling, panelled, with foliated roundels and Greek key ornament.

Externally, the church resembles a Nonconformist chapel with its two tiers of windows, pedimented gable and rows of Doric columns. A statue of St Patrick on a plinth stands between the central first-floor windows, which are blind, with a plaque below recording the building.