With the Restoration of the Hierarchy, the city centre church of St Nicholas became the pro-cathedral.  In 1853 Bishop Brown started giving thought to the provision of a purpose-built and more befitting  cathedral,  and  he asked  E.W.  Pugin to prepare plans for a large Gothic church at St Edward’s College, Everton, on a high point at the northern end of the city. It was intended that this building, opened initially as the parish of Our Lady Immaculate by Bishop Goss in 1856, should be expanded to become the cathedral.  However, this project was not to be advanced, and St Nicholas continued in use as the pro-cathedral and Our Lady as a parish church. The idea of a new cathedral was not to be revived until the time of Archbishop Keating in 1921 when it was advanced as a memorial to Archbishop Whiteside.

The Lutyens scheme

Archbishop Keating identified  a site at the top of Brownlow  Hill, the site of  the former Liverpool Workhouse, as more suitably commanding than that of the pro- cathedral. The site was owned by the West Derby Board of Poor Law Guardians, and was also being coveted by the University (for expansion) and the City Council (for housing). Keating died before the site could be secured, but this was achieved at a cost of £100,000 by his successor Archbishop Downey in 1930, in the teeth of sectarian resistance. The Rev Harry Longbottom, a prominent local Protestant, said he would prefer the site to be used for a ‘poison germ factory’ than a Catholic Cathedral, prompting Downey to comment that although he had only acquired the site ‘by a short nose’, this was better than ‘being beaten by a long bottom!’ (quoted in Doyle, 294).

Downey approached Sir Edwin Lutyens to design the new Cathedral, and a classical style was chosen, possibly to avoid comparison with Giles Scott’s Anglican Cathedral then rising. In scale, Lutyens’ design would trump Scott’s, and indeed that of any other English Cathedral. Architect and Archbishop obtained Pope Pius XI’s approval of the plans, and the Pope suggested the dedication, to Christ the King.

Lutyens developed his plans in the early years of the 1930s, and in 1934 his great model was exhibited at the Royal Academy. The design was for a great domed structure which at 510 feet would be notably higher than those of St Peter’s in Rome (450 ft) and St Paul’s in London (366 ft). The estimated cost of £3m dismayed many in the diocese, but Downey pressed ahead with fundraising (‘We need a cathedral, we need it urgently, and it must be a vast one’, quoted in Doyle, 297). The foundation stone was laid on Whit Monday 1933 and by October 1936 the Archbishop was able to say Mass in the shell of the crypt. Work continued steadily until 1941, when the Ministry of Works put a stop to them, since the builders were needed for urgent war work.

The Scott scheme

Lutyens died in 1944 and was replaced as architect by Adrian Gilbert Scott, younger brother of the architect of the Anglican cathedral. Scott estimated that it would cost £27m to complete Lutyens’ design, and the dream was looking increasingly distant. Finally, in 1953 Downey’s successor Archbishop Godfrey took the decisive step of abandoning the scheme.   Scott prepared a new design, still with a dome, but on a much reduced footprint (with a piazza in front over the western end of the crypt). The estimated cost of this design was £4m. Although clearly more affordable, the design did  not  find  favour  with  the  architectural  establishment;  the  Royal  Fine  Arts Commission condemned it as a ‘caricature’ (Doyle, 304). Progress was slow, and in 1957 the new Archbishop, John Heenan, sacked Scott as architect for the new Cathedral, but did instruct him to complete Lutyens’ crypt.  The crypt was formally opened by Archbishop Heenan on 26 October 1958, the Feast of Christ the King.

The Gibberd design

In 1959 Archbishop Heenan announced a competition for the new cathedral, to cost no less than £1m. The assessors were Sir Basil Spence and the Catholic architect David Stokes. Designs prepared by Frederick Gibberd, then known chiefly as the builder of Harlow New Town, were chosen from 299 entries.

Building of Gibberd’s striking circular, centrally planned design started in October 1962.  The building was placed towards the east end of Lutyens’ crypt, with a piazza in front, an idea first proposed by Scott. The structure was simple, consisting of two great ring beams supporting the main roof and tower, and in turn supported by sloping concrete buttresses. The interior was a single uninterrupted space, with a ring of outer chapels between the buttresses. The sloping design rose to a central funnel- shaped tower, placed over the central altar and filled with stained glass. Designs from major national as well as local artists were obtained for the glass and other furnishings.

The cathedral was opened in May 1967. It normally seats 2,200, and the final cost was £2.5m.

Technical problems, renovation and development

Technical problems began to develop soon after the completion of the cathedral. Chief amongst these was a failure in the surface of the piazza (causing ingress of rainwater into the crypt), leaks in the aluminium roof of the cathedral, the leaning outwards of the walls surrounding the podium and the delamination of the glass mosaic cladding of the buttresses. The Archdiocese took the architects to court with a claim for £6m. This was settled out of court.

Serious thought was given to the demolition of the cathedral. However 1992 saw the introduction of English Heritage cathedral grants, and these acted as the catalyst for the repair and renovation of the building. To start with the piazza was taken up, a new waterproof membrane inserted, and new paving and drains provided (architect Richard O’Mahony of Derek Cox OMF Architects). Work then proceeded on the superstructure,  under  the  supervision  of  W.J.  Vis  of  Derek  Hicks  and  Thew Architects. The mild steel pinnacles at the top of the corona were replaced in stainless steel, the lantern glazing restored, the aluminium roof stripped and replaced in stainless steel, the mosaics on the buttresses stabilised and covered with grp panels and the perimeter walls rebuilt. This programme of repairs was concluded in 2003; the total cost was £8m, of which £2m came from English Heritage and £3m from benefactors.

In 2002 Gibberd’s plan for a great flight of steps from the main entrance down towards Hope Street was finally realised, with the help of European Union grant aid. This flight is flanked on one side by the new visitor centre and restaurant and on the other by the Science Park building (architect Mark Dring of Falconer Chester).

Description

The Cathedral was upgraded to Grade I in June 2025. For a full description, see the amended list entry at Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Non Civil Parish – 1070607 | Historic England

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The first permanent Catholic church, St Bridget’s, was built in 1813 on the outskirts of Douglas. It was a modest building, and with a growing number of Catholics taking up residence and holidaying on the island, it had become necessary by 1850 to find a larger and more central site. Land was eventually purchased in Athol Street, and Henry Clutton was appointed architect. The foundation stone for St Mary’s was laid in 1857. It provoked considerable opposition: The Manx Sun considered in ‘an aggression’, and lawless mobs caused damage so that it became necessary to erect a high wall around the site to afford security for worshippers. In 1862, metal grilles were placed on the windows to protect them from breakage. The church was opened on 4 August 1859.

The presbytery, also designed by Clutton, was built in 1860. Sinnott, Sinnott & Powell added the single-storey extension built against the west wall of the church to provide extra confessionals and a mission library. In 1889 the same architects introduced the timber ceiling over the nave. Clutton’s design left the muscular roof trusses exposed, but this was found wanting both thermally and acoustically. The organ gallery was extended in 1874 to make room for a larger organ, although this was removed in the 1920s when the existing organ was installed. A number of enhancements were made under the direction of Giles Gilbert Scott, beginning with the High Altar in 1910, and continuing through the 1920s. In 1930, a former auction room in Myrtle Street adjoining the church was acquired and converted to a parish hall. Various alterations and improvements have been made to it over the years.

In 2023 St Mary’s was made co-cathedral for the Archdiocese of Liverpool. A co-cathedral can be designated when, as here, a single diocese spans two civil jurisdictions. The designation followed the raising of Douglas to city status in 2022.

Description

Clutton’s design for St Mary’s draws on the early Gothic of northern Germany. It was intended to provide an unforgettable image when viewed on the approach down St Mary’s Hill. Here the apse of the church thrusts forward to the street frontage between two tall towers that were both to have been terminated by Rhenish Helm spires. That one tower was finished with a flat roof and the other with a saddleback roof was presumably the result of financial stringency, but the architectural effect was undeniably compromised. Nonetheless, the composition of church and presbytery is very impressive. The church is built of local stone, with dressings of red sandstone shipped over from Whitehaven. The side walls are plain and sheer, punctuated by five tall lancets, with four more in the west gable. Above those in the gable is a large rose window. The roof slope over both nave and aisles runs uninterrupted.

The church is approached through a gateway in the surrounding boundary wall, fitted with iron gates designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, installed in 1915. A pathway leads to the southwest porch. Between the twin doors of the porch is a statue of the Virgin. The muscular character of the exterior is expressed internally by the tall arches of the arcade with their vigorously carved stiff leaf capitals. These are of Caen stone, but have regrettably been painted. The ceiling of Swedish red pine was installed in 1889 to mask Clutton’s exposed trusses. The sanctuary and chapels are very different in character, and were designed by Giles Gilbert Scott. He introduced the spectacular high altar of verde de prato marble with its gilded angels, and the triptych carved with the figures of Manx saints. Above the triptych is a filigree carved tree of Jesse. The sanctuary walls were later lined in marble, and the stained glass windows of Christ’s miracles are by Hardmans and date from 1950. The bronze altar rails are by Scott and were introduced in 1922; they are a memorial to those who lost their lives in the Great War. Further reordering occurred in 1970 and 1975 to accommodate changes in the liturgy, including the moving forward of Scott’s altar and the introduction of a platform and nave altar.

To each side of the sanctuary are huge stone statues of the Virgin and Child and the Sacred Heart carved by Theodore Phyffers and dating from 1861. Like the capitals they have unfortunately been painted. The Lady Chapel altar is by Scott and was made by Farmer & Brindley, the reredos is carved by Stuflesser. The Sacred Heart altar, together with the marble lining to the walls of this chapel dates from 1951 and were designed and made by Fenning and Company of Hammersmith. Statues at the west end of the church of St Anthony and St Joseph contained in niches designed by Scott were also probably carved by Stuflesser. The large wooden crucifix on the north wall was carved by Phyffers in 1859.

A note on the War Memorial, by Mr Michael Statham

The Memorial for the First World War in St Mary’s is one of only two known memorials in Catholic churches which were designed by Giles Gilbert Scott and made by W. Clarke of Llandaff. The other is in St Paul’s, Liverpool.

In April 1923 Clarke’s were commissioned by G. Gilbert Scott to make a tablet commemorating those parishioners of St Mary’s Roman Catholic church, Douglas, Isle of Man who fell in WW1. This included photographing the finished article in their workshop. The job was completed by the second week of June.

The Day Book record indicates the tablet was constructed of Hopton Wood stone. Sid Pollard worked on the slab, which took 44 hours and also made copper stays which took an extra 4 hours. Dare was responsible for the inscription, which took him 157.5 hours. A mason spent one hour erecting the tablet in the workshop for photographing. Day works, materials and expenses came to £22.10s.7d. and the final bill was £29.17s.0d. representing a profit of about 24.5%. The account and receipt were sent to
Rev. Dean Crookall, at St. Mary’s church. The tablet is mounted on a backing stone in an alcove on the left as you enter the church by the main door.

Taking Stock is grateful to Mr Statham for this additional information.

Entry amended by AHP 6 November 2023

The church is a registered building, the Isle of Man equivalent of listing. Further information at: https://www.gov.im/media/632387/0500197regbldstmaryschurch.pdf

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Erected c.1900 as a Baptist hall, it was adapted for worship when the Baptists abandoned  the  scheme  for  a  larger  church.  In  1964  it  was acquired  by  the Archdiocese and converted to a Catholic church.

Description

This small church dating from c. 1900 is built of red Ruabon brick with a slate roof, and consists of a nave running parallel with the road, a porch with short tower over, and a hall set at ninety degrees with a gable frontage. At the east end is a small extension containing meeting rooms. A former yard area at the rear has been roofed over to serve as a sacristy.

The worship space is a simple cube with the altar set on a dais and nine rows of pews. There is a large folding timber screen between the worship space and the hall, which is original to the building and can be opened up to provide additional seating for Mass. The interior was reordered in the 1980s with new furnishings.

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A school-chapel was built in 1878 from designs by James O’Byrne of Birkdale. Funded through the munificence of T. Weld Blundell of Ince Blundell Hall, this was described in The Tablet (24 August 1878) as ‘a neat structure, crowned by a bell tower and entered by a porch’. Further work was carried out in 1907 and the building was extended with a new hall in 2001.

Description

Of stock brick with red brick banding, stone dressings and slate roofs. Nave and chancel beneath one roof. The east end is windowless with a slightly projecting central bay protected by a slightly projecting roof hip. Western bellcote. The west entrance front has a projecting hipped roof supported by timber braces, paired windows with basic Perpendicular style tracery; single-storey porch. Side windows are arched with timber glazing bars. A hall extension on the south side is of brick with a curving canopy to the entrance area and a taller hall element with a strip clerestory. It was erected in 2001.

The interior has not been inspected but is said to have been reordered in the mid-twentieth century, again during the 1980s, and with further alterations in the 1990s.

Entry amended by AHP 11.01.2021

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In 1872 Bishop Goss asked Fr J.P. Nugent to establish a mission between Kirkdale Ford and Gilmoss. Fr Nugent was a pioneering campaigner for social reform and well known temperance advocate. At first Mass was said in a converted barn. The foundation stone of a new church was laid in July 1876 and the building was opened by the Bishop of Liverpool in June 1878. The church was built to seat 600-700 people, and cost about £6,000. Schools were built in 1880/1. In 1941 the church sustained some bomb damage. Temporary repairs were made in 1946 and a fuller restoration and enlargement carried out later under Canon Ormsby, who also beautified the church grounds.

Description

A tall church in thirteenth century Early English Gothic style dating from 1878, faced entirely in buff quarry-faced sandstone with sandstone dressings and roof coverings of Welsh slate.  The building has nave and sanctuary under one long roof, with lean-to aisles on both sides and a transeptal sacristy at the liturgical southeast corner; the south aisle has been enlarged. West end wall with central arched doorway under a small. projecting porch, four tall lancet windows over and a traceried rose window in the tall gable; the western ends of both aisles have stepped triple lancet windows. The aisles have single lancet windows, the nave clerestory has small paired windows. The east wall rises sheer to a large rose window in the gable; the north aisle east wall has a three-light window with plate tracery, on the south side is the transeptal sanctuary.

The interior has five bay nave arcades of moulded pointed arches on cylindrical marble columns with naturalistic floral capitals; modern west gallery with organ and enclosed narthex space beneath. The nave has a canted timber roof with braced principals and timber wall shafts; the lean-to aisle roofs have exposed timber rafters. The south aisle has been widened for most of its length, presumably as part of the post-war restoration, and the original outer wall has been replaced by modern cylindrical columns. Most of the windows in the side walls are clear glazed, with stained glass in the east and west windows. There is no structural division between nave and sanctuary, but the arches in the side walls of the single bay sanctuary are carried down to the floor and open into the side chapels. Elaborate carved reredos on east wall; sanctuary reordered with chunky new altars; southeast chapel with marble reredos and stained glass by Hardman (1949). The glass in the east rose window may be by the Earley Studio of Dublin.

Entry amended by AHP 15.09.2026

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The parish was established in 1947. The foundation stone for the present building was laid by Archbishop Godfrey on 15 October 1955 and the church opened in the following year. The architects were Edmund Kirby & Son of Liverpool.

Description

The church is T-shaped on plan, with a low, wide nave with narrow passage aisles, and a double height sanctuary space. The reinforced concrete frame is faced with multi-stock bricks laid in English garden wall bond (3:1), under shallow-pitched roofs clad in felt. There is a projecting porch with a curved roof, its front faced in red sandstone, and surmounted by a statue of the Virgin and Child. To the north of this, a low link to a circular baptistery, its tapering walls faced in flint cobbles, and surmounted by an openwork reinforced concrete tripod/fleche from which hangs a single bell. On the flank elevations, the bay divisions of the nave are expressed externally by slightly recessed concrete verticals. There is continuous glazing in hardwood frames under the box eaves, and on the south side concrete projections in the three central bays, an external expression of internal niches. On the north side, low flat-roofed buildings housing confessionals etc. The east end is a double height space with a gently curving roof. Its north wall is faced with concrete panels, otherwise the facing material is brick. Mainly blank east wall; windows on the west and south sides.

Inside  the  porch  is  a  tablet  recording  the  laying  of  the  foundation  stone  by Archbishop Godfrey. This leads into the broad and low nave, with narrow passage aisles on either side. Tapering reinforced concrete piers and ribs mark the five bays. A passageway off to the right (north) leads to the baptistery, now used as a repository and containing no features of particular note. The continuous clerestory glazing in the aisles has a mixture of clear and pale coloured glass. Below this on the south side, three recesses containing statues. The roof over the nave is a shallow reinforced concrete structure with a lattice pattern of ribs.

The sanctuary area offers a dramatic contrast in scale, and has a shallow  barrel vaulted ceiling with square concrete panels, running in a north-south direction, encompassing a side chapel on the north side. Against the east wall there is a long crimson dossal and suspended timber canopy with carved and painted soffit (IHS monogram etc), marking the site of the former high altar. The present forward altar is of stone and fairly small, and belongs to a later reordering (as does the similarly-detailed  ambo  and the  relocated  font,  which  has  an  octagonal  top  with  incised carving, and a tapering base). The organ (by Lewis and Co. of London) is placed in the southwest corner of the nave. Plain seating. No other furnishings of particular note.

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Built as a chapel-of-ease to St Francis, Garston, St Bernadette’s is a basilican church of 1935-36 in a moderne Romanesque style, designed by F. Reynolds of Hill, Sandy & Norris. It is built of brown brick with a tiled roof and white painted round headed timber windows. The gabled west front has a central doorway and above that a carved stone relief of the vision of St Bernadette. A tall campanile rises above the south porch.

The  simple  interior  is  long  and  narrow,  and  consists  of  a five-bay nave with  aisle passages set behind a semi-circular headed arcade and a clerestory. The wall surfaces are roughly plastered throughout, and the ceiling is timber boarded with exposed king post trusses below. Projecting out from a shallow recess at the east end is a baldacchino set on coppered columns with carved timber capitals. The stone altar has been brought forward. There are two side chapels, and over the sanctuary is a carved wooden crucifix. In the Lady Chapel is a small bronze statue of the Virgin by Arthur Dooley. The pews are contemporary with the church. At the west end is a shallow narthex with an organ loft above. At the northwest corner a baptistery projects from the main vessel of the church and contains a brick font.

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Before St Joseph’s was built worship took place at St Gregory’s, Weld Bank (q.v.), three miles away. Land was given by Charles Joseph Stonor of Anderton Hall (demolished) for a church, school, presbytery and cemetery. The aisle was used as a school until the construction of a separate school in 1872. The church retained a link with Stonor and Anderton Hall, which was used for worship between 1888 and 1890 when dry rot affected the church. The attached presbytery was burnt down in the mid-twentieth century and later replaced by sacristy, boiler room, etc., of poor architectural quality.

Description

Early English style with lancet and rose windows. Of local rock-faced stone and a slate roof. Nave and polygonal chancel, low north aisle of five bays. A small chapel and separate baptistery, south side, are twentieth-century additions in broadly matching style. West front with a shallow porch and large rose window. The late twentieth-century sacristy, offices, etc., are attached on the southeast side. They are of red brick, partially rendered.

The interior has a narthex with a late twentieth-century screen beneath a canted west gallery with the original painted altar panel relocated on the front. North aisle arcade with octagonal stone columns and plain caps. Cambered nave roof with trusses rising from plain corbels, ribbed chancel roof rising from similar corbels. To the south are two arched entrances to the sacristy, and the chapel of St Gerard (dedicated in 1909). The panelled sanctuary has a large gilded timber reredos with a statue of Christ below a domed timber canopy; the panelling and reredos were added in 1906. A large rood hangs at the junction of the nave and sanctuary; this was originally on the north wall. The church was reordered by the Pozzoni Design Group in 1995; a new forward altar was made from the parts of the original altar and placed on a raised sanctuary.The reredos and tabernacle remain in situ. Altar rails were removed (these were possibly recent additions), and the narthex screened, but the seating appears to remain unchanged. A baptistery was added in the 1960s by Anderton & Kellie. It contains two stained glass windows and a font of Italian marble, and is now used as a repository. Northeast altar with an unusual nineteenth-century painting of the Betrothal in the style of Raphael. Stained glass includes a window by Shrigley & Hunt, c.1950s, and one in memory of Fr Roskell, dated 1976.

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The present site was acquired in 1885 to provide a church and school for the growing population of Anfield. Two cotton broker brothers, Francis and James Reynolds (who also paid for Leonard Stokes’ church of St Clare, Sefton Park, qv), provided a temporary building, housing a school on the ground floor with a church above.  This was opened by Bishop O’Reilly on 8 September 1889.

The present church was built in 1910 to the designs of J. B. Sinnott, and opened by Archbishop Whiteside. The preacher was Dr Keating, then Bishop of Northampton and later Archbishop of Liverpool. He consecrated the church on 6 October 1921.

In 1940 the church was twice damaged by bombs. On the night of 5 September incendiary bombs set the roof of the sacristies on fire and on 22 October, a high explosive bomb fell in the playground between the church and the school.

Description

The church is built of rock-faced sandstone with slate roofs. Perpendicular Gothic style, consisting of a nave, short sanctuary and north and south chapels, north and south aisles, western porch and baptistry. There is no tower.

The west front has two tall paired window openings with Perp tracery and below this a carved frieze with the dedication and date of construction, below this the carved arms of the (then) diocese. The main entrance porch is at the southwest corner, and this is asymmetrically balanced by a baptistery with a canted end wall at the northwest corner.

The nave consists of six bays, with octagonal piers and moulded arcades. Each bay is marked by a wall post supporting a timber truss and boarded compartmentalised roof (painted). There is a tall sanctuary arch and short sanctuary, with a circular window with Perp tracery placed high in the liturgical east wall, with glass depicting the crucified Christ flanked by figures of Our Lady and St John. At the west end of the nave there is an organ gallery,  its  front  with a geometrical chamfered openwork design. Below this is a narthex/gathering area. In the aisles there is a fairly complete set of mid-twentieth century stained glass showing various saints.

Recent reordering has involved the creation of a clergy vestry in the former sanctuary area, and the formation of a dais in front of this, with an ensemble of stone altar, ambo and font (with silver bowl). A meeting room and kitchen have been formed in the former sacristy area giving off the south aisle.

Entry amended by AHP 8.1.2021

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A mission was established here as early as 1776, but the present church dates from 1903.

The plan of the building comprises a tall nave and aisles under one roof, projecting southwest porch and baptistery with an apsidal end and a northwest projection which may have been intended as the base of a tower, since it adjoins a projecting stair which now serves only the internal western gallery. The nave is of five bays, with shallow transeptal projections in the third and fourth bays from the west. At the east end is a tall sanctuary. The walls are of red rock-faced sandstone laid in courses, with dressed sandstone for the window detailing and roof coverings of Welsh slate. The west end is a varied composition, with the tall end wall of the nave flanked by the projecting baptistery and stair projection; the gable of the nave has a large five-light window with elaborate tracery. The side elevations are of five main bays with three-light segment-headed windows to the aisles and five light traceried windows in the double transepts. The tall shallow sanctuary has an elaborately traceried round window in the east wall.

The interior is dramatic, with a western gallery, arcades of five bays of pointed arches on tall cylindrical columns and a steep and elaborate timber roof. Above the arches of the arcades are foiled openings into the upper parts of the aisles. At the east end, in the sanctuary and flanking side chapels, original marble altars by Peter Paul Pugin with their canopied reredoses survive. The windows are mostly clear glazed with yellow borders, but there is some good Arts & Crafts style stained glass in the east window.

The interior was thoroughly but sensitively reordered and refurbished by Philip Johnston in c.1999. A nave altar was formed from second-hand elements, and displaced pews and choir stalls were recycled to created screens at the west end. The shrine to Our Lady was relocated to the original baptistery and the interior carpeted.

Entry revised and new photos added by AHP 15.01.2026

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