St. Werburgh - Chester

Introduction

Saint Werburgh's Roman Catholic Church in Chester was built in 1873-5 and 1913-14 by Edmund Kirby. The church was consecrated on 31 May 1936. The St Werburgh's SVP Conference aims to meet monthly.

Architecture and furnishings

The foundation stone of the church was laid on 15 October 1873. The church has a continuous aisled nave and sanctuary with liturgical orientation reversed. The interior has alternating round and octagonal columns with rich foliar capitals.

The great Rood was hung at the entrance to the Sanctuary, with a carved wood figure 7 feet high, designed by Mr. E. B. Kirby. The church is built of buff sandstone with grey slate roofs. The exterior has a symmetrical west front with a projecting nave-width porch, a gabled west end with triple lancets, and an apsidal east end with five lancets and an ambulatory. The interior has a boarded wagon roof with trusses having stop-chamfered ties and octagonal posts, and an arched sanctuary truss with timber tracery.

The church contains a historic 1926 J. J. Binns organ, removed from Queen's Park Church in Glasgow, refurbished and installed by George Sixsmith & Son in 2004, with 1810 speaking pipes and over 1500 moving parts. The stained glass windows behind the organ were removed from St Laurence's Church, Birkenhead, before demolition, and represent the Birth, Death and Resurrection of the Lord. The Pulpit was given by Pat Collins of Pat Collins Funfair at the turn of the last century. St Werburgh's SVP Conference, Chester, is active in the parish.

Music and liturgy

During many Masses and other formal liturgical celebrations, the congregation joins in singing hymns accompanied by the organ or led by the Parish Choir or the Music Group. The church hosts organ recitals and occasional concerts, inviting musical ensembles, bands and orchestras as a city-centre venue.

The organ console is positioned near the font, with two thirds of the pipes on the screen above the main entrance and one third behind the statue of St Werburgh. Trena Cox also designed and executed the stained-glass window to St Christopher in the porch of the church.

Notable people and events

The Rev. Thomas Penswick, later Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District, served the mission from 1796 and raised funds for the building of a church and presbytery in Queen Street. The Rev. John Briggs, later Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District and Bishop of Beverley, was stationed here from 1818 to 1833. Canon Cholmondeley, a notable convert, was attached to the staff for about 20 years prior to 1872.