On my final day in Liverpool I decided to take a walk down from my hotel towards the Albert Dock in order to visit the museums there but the first building I actually stepped inside was the Liverpool Parish Church.
There has been a place of worship on the site for more than 750 years with the original chapel of St Mary del Quay first mentioned in 1257. A larger chapel dedicated to St Nicholas, patron saint of mariners and therefore a fitting connection for a church by the docks, was built around 1361.
The church seems to have been home to a number of tragedies, including the collapse of its tower in 1810 that killed 25 people but the worst in terms of destruction if not in loss of life was on 21 December 1940 when the church took a direct hit from an incendiary bomb during an air raid and was almost completely destroyed. Throughout the war services were carried out amongst the ruins until it was rebuilt and consecrated in 1952. The cross you can see below was made from the charred timbers of the church recovered after the air raid.
It only has one stained glass window, as below, which was made in 1951 and inscribed with the words “For the Healing of the Nations”. However some of the clear glass windows have a border of stained glass fragments that were recovered from the windows that were destroyed during the bombing.
It had a really warm and welcoming feel to it and I’d recommend popping in if you’re planning a visit to the docks. You can find more photos here.
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