Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Birkenhead
Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Birkenhead
Our Lady’s is a Grade II Roman Catholic church on Cavendish Street, Birkenhead, in the Diocese of Shrewsbury, an ambitious early work of E. W. Pugin intended as a cathedral.
- Location
- Birkenhead, Merseyside
- Country
- England
- County
- Merseyside
- City / town
- Birkenhead
- Address
- Cavendish Street, Birkenhead, Merseyside, CH41 8AQ
- Postcode
- CH41 8AQ
- Built
- 1860–62; chancel 1876–77
- Architect
- E W Pugin; Pugin and Pugin
- Denomination
- Catholic Church
- Dedication
- Mary
- Diocese
- Shrewsbury
- Parish
- Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception
- Grade
- II
- Style
- Gothic Revival
- Materials
- Rock-faced stone with Welsh slate roof
- Grid reference
- SJ 308 897
- Opening hours
- The church is open on Friday, Saturday & Sunday afternoons during Wirral Heritage Week or by appointment.
- Access
- Accessible toilets in church. Level access to the main areas. Ramp or level access available on request
Overview
Historic England records a church of 1860–62 by Edward Welby Pugin, with the chancel added in 1876–77 by Pugin and Pugin, in rock-faced stone with a Welsh slate roof. The plan is a nave with two aisles, chancel and unfinished north-east tower. The west front has paired panelled doors, a band of five narrow lancets and a rose window in the gable. Aisles are divided by buttresses with triple lancets; an apsidal chancel has clerestory lancets and lean-to vestries. A raised inscription beneath the chancel windows and a date of 1877 mark the later east end.
Taking Stock notes that Bishop Brown laid the foundation stone on 8 December 1860 and opened the church on 25 May 1862, the first in the diocese dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. The Earl of Shrewsbury had hoped for a cathedral here; after his death the scheme was simplified and the tower never rose above eaves level. The church was seriously damaged in the March 1941 blitz and stood open to the sky for ten years before reopening on 11 October 1951. Fittings include Pugin’s pulpit (1875) and a high altar and reredos of 1895 by Pugin & Pugin with paintings by Hardman and Powell.