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Christ Church, Port Sunlight
Christ Church, Port Sunlight
Christ Church, located in Church Drive, Port Sunlight, Wirral, Merseyside, England, is an active United Reformed Church and a Grade II listed building.
Key Facts
- Location: Church Drive, Port Sunlight, Wirral, Merseyside, England
- Construction: 1902-1904
- Architects: William and Segar Owen
- Style: Gothic Revival
- Seating: 800
- Features: Stained glass, pipe organ, Lady Lever Memorial
- Status: Grade II Listed
Overview
Christ Church, located in Church Drive, Port Sunlight, Wirral, Merseyside, England, is an active United Reformed Church and a Grade II listed building.
Port Sunlight, a model village for Lever Brothers’ soap factory workers, was founded by William Lever. Christ Church, designed by William and Segar Owen, was built between 1902 and 1904 and opened on June 8, 1904. Initially non-denominational, it later became a Congregational church and is now part of the United Reformed Church. The Lever family vault was added in 1914 as a memorial to Lady Lever. In 2000, two new rooms were added for children and youth activities.
Constructed from red sandstone with a stone-slate roof, the church features Gothic Revival style. The plan includes a six-bay nave, north and south aisles, a southwest porch, north and south transepts, a canted chancel, a southeast tower, and the Lady Lever Memorial at the west end.
Seating 800, the church has simple arcades, black and white Italian marble flooring, English oak pews, screens, and reredos, and Canadian pitch pine roof timbers. Stained glass by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, and a four-manual pipe organ by Henry Willis II, restored in 2006-07, are notable features. The Lady Lever Memorial houses the tombs of Lady Lever and William Lever.
The churchyard includes the Lever family vault and war graves of soldiers from both World Wars.
Gallery
