Our Church History
The story of how we came to be..
The story of our own Church has a real romance about it. It began in 1895 in the parlour of “Plum Tree Cottage,” on Sandy Lane. Mrs. Kirkland, the wife of the minister of the Presbyterian Church in West Kirby, went to visit Mrs. Price to ask her if she would be willing to have services held in her home. She agreed to this request, and so in 1895 Rev. Patrick Kirkland
began walking from West Kirby to Heswall to hold services in Plum Tree Cottage every Wednesday afternoon..
The numbers attending these meetings soon outgrew the cottage, and so the congregation rented a room above a stable situated on the junction of Grange Mount and Pensby Lane, as the present Pensby Road was then known. It was not long before this also was not large enough to accommodate the growing congregation, which was now meeting on Sundays as well as in the middle of the week. And so a piece of land adjacent to our present site was bought at a cost of £500, and here a corrugated iron building, which was affectionately known as the Tin Tabernacle, was erected, at a cost of a further £660. The congregation continued to grow and on 31st May,1908 the last service was held in the Tin Tabernacle and the congregation began to worship in a new brick built church, and the number attending continued to increase.
The brick built church building served the congregation until 1967 when it was found to be unsafe because the walls were spreading under the weight of the roof. The members were forced to worship in the Church Hall until our present Church building was opened in 1970.
When Tesco was planning to build a new supermarket they offered to purchase some of the Church’s land, including the site of the old hall. With the money received from this land, the congregation was able to build the new hall, which was opened in 1992.
Our Church grew from very small beginnings. It is a story, which we cherish, but it should also inspire us. It demonstrates what God is able to do through a small group of committed disciples.
Those who worshipped and worked here before us have bequeathed to us a wonderful suite of buildings, ideal for God‘s work in our time. We take up this challenge with both gratitude and enthusiasm.
The architect’s perspective:
Member and Church Architect Chris Bennett
The old church: In 1967 the old church exhibited structural problems. The elders and congregation recognised that beyond this problem, the church would be difficult to update in keeping with modern needs. It was also noisy being so close to the main road.
The new church: I was selected to design a new church on the land to the rear of the existing property; at this stage the old hall was to remain at the front. After several months of research and discussion, I submitted my plans and we finished on target, in December 1970.
“When the sun is out it shines into this church”: The roof over the sanctuary is a pyramid with a roof light divided diagonally: if the sun is out it shines into this church. The church sanctuary was designed around 3 sides of the table on the dais, with seating for elders on either side. The children also had seats, tip up seats, at the front; so when they left for their own activities, the church did not look deserted! The new building gave us the opportunity to for a much-requested central aisle. The old building had two aisles, one on either side. The interior of the church had sliding doors to divide the rear half off as a meeting room and for evening services the church could be more intimate in size. A number of other facilities were added, a vestry and elders’ room, a cloakroom at the entrance, and at the furthest point, two classrooms.
The new hall and facilities: In 1991 Tesco purchased the site next-door (the old Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital Heswall site), and offered to buy the ex church and hall, as a site for car parking. I was asked to design an extension at the back of the site to replace the old hall accommodation and in addition, a coffee room and storage facilities. The hall has a laminated timber structure and a strip beech floor marked out for badminton. It also has from the old hall, a feature circular stained glass window. The site was landscaped so that children would be safe on enclosed lawns.
You can read more and view photos, by clicking on ‘our church history’.