St Oswald's Church, Bidston
| St Oswald's Church, Bidston | |
 St Oswald's Church, Bidston, from the south
|
|
| Coordinates: 53°24′09″N 3°04′02″W / 53.4024°N 3.0671°W | |
| OS grid reference | SJ 283 903 |
|---|---|
| Location | Bidston, Birkenhead, Wirral, Merseyside |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Website | St Oswald's, Bidston |
| Architecture | |
| Status | Parish church |
| Functional status | Active |
| Heritage designation | Grade II |
| Designated | 29 July 1950 |
| Architect(s) | W. & J. Hay, G. E. Grayson |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Style | Gothic, Gothic Revival |
| Completed | 1882 |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | Coursed and squared rubble Westmorland slate roof with ridge cresting |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Bidston |
| Deanery | Birkenhead |
| Archdeaconry | Chester |
| Diocese | Chester |
| Province | York |
| Clergy | |
| Vicar(s) | Rev Ron Iveson |
| Curate(s) | Rev Jenny Gillies |
| Assistant priest | Rev Chris Jones |
| Laity | |
| Reader | Arthur Sinnott, Rob Morsley, Jayne Morsley |
| Churchwarden(s) | Alan Cobham, Pat Chettenden |
St Oswald's Church, Bidston is in Bidston, an area of Birkenhead, Wirral, Merseyside, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.[1] It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Birkenhead.[2]
Contents |
[edit] History
The original church dates back to the 13th century.[3] The tower was built in 1520.[4] The rest of the church was rebuilt in 1855–56 by W. and J. Hay in Gothic Revival style. An extension was made to the chancel in 1882 by G. E. Grayson.[5]
[edit] Architecture
[edit] Exterior
The church is built from coursed and squared rubble in large blocks with a roof of Westmorland slate with ridge cresting. Its plan consists of a west tower, a nave, north and south aisles with gable roofs, a south porch, and a chancel.[1] Heraldic shields over the west door date it between 1504 and 1521.[5] The tower is in three stages with angle buttresses and an embattled parapet.[1]
[edit] Interior
In the chancel is a sedilia dated 1882. The reredos is a mosaic depicting The Last Supper by Salviati over which is a wooden canopy frieze.[1] The stained glass includes windows by Morris & Co., Robert Anning Bell, H. Gustave Hiller, H. Hughes, Powell and Frank O. Salisbury.[5] The two-manual organ dating from 1929 is by Henry Willis & Sons.[6] The ring of six bells is by Robert Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, five of which are dated 1868 and the other 1882.[7] The parish registers begin in 1679 and the churchwardens' accounts in 1767.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d "Church of St Oswald, Birkenhead", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1201549, retrieved 11 May 2011
- ^ St Oswald, Bidston, Church of England, http://www.achurchnearyou.com/bidston-st-oswald/, retrieved 11 May 2011
- ^ Salter, Mark (1995), The Old Parish Churches of Cheshire, Malvern: Folly Publications, p. 24, ISBN 1-871731-23-2
- ^ a b Richards, Raymond (1947), Old Cheshire Churches, London: Batsford, pp. 51–54
- ^ a b c Pevsner, Nikolaus; Hubbard, Edward (2003) [1971], Cheshire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 95, ISBN 0-300-09588-0
- ^ Bidston St. Oswald, British Institute of Organ Studies, http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N04426, retrieved 9 August 2008
- ^ Bidston S Oswald, Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=Bidston&Submit=++Go++&DoveID=BIDSTON, retrieved 9 August 2008
- Buildings and structures completed in 1856
- Buildings and structures completed in 1882
- Churches in Wirral (borough)
- Church of England churches in Merseyside
- 19th-century Church of England church buildings
- Grade II listed churches
- Grade II listed buildings in Merseyside
- English Gothic architecture
- Gothic Revival architecture in Merseyside
- Diocese of Chester
