Description

CROSBY

SJ39NW MERSEY ROAD
778-1/3/103 (North side)
26/03/73 Crosby United Reformed Church
(Formerly Listed as:
MERSEY ROAD
Congregational Church)

GV II

Congregational church, now United Reformed church. 1897-8
(dated 1897 at east end); by Douglas and Fordham. Snecked red
sandstone, graduated green slate roofs.
STYLE: Gothic.
PLAN: nave with fleche, low north and south aisles, south-east
porch, large north and south transepts, west chancel,
south-west choir vestry (with organ-house above).
EXTERIOR: the 4-bay nave has angle-buttresses terminating in
octagonal turrets, large side buttresses pierced by the
aisles, 2-centred arched 3-light clerestory windows with
stepped arched lights, a large 2-centred arched 3-light east
window with traceried lights, and a slated fleche with open
arcading at the foot; the aisles have a pair of small
2-centred arched windows in each bay. The east bay on the
south side has a large gabled porch with coupled arched
doorways set in a 2-centred arch with 4 orders of moulding.
The transepts have large 2-centred arched 4-light windows with
moulded surrounds and geometrical tracery. The 2-storey choir
vestry has a polygonal turret attached to its south side. The
chancel has a 5-light window with geometrical plate tracery,
flanked by cusped blind windows.
Large congregational hall (probably formerly school) linked to
north side of church by single-storey range along east end: in
similar style, and with 2 fleche ventilators on the roof.
INTERIOR: double-chamfered 2-centred arched aisle arcades on
short piers, forming 3 wide bays and 2 narrow bays at the east
end; large transept arches in the same style; larger chancel
arch with 2 orders of moulding; impressive timber roof of
unusual construction, with hammerbeams supported by raked
straight braces, arch-braced collar trusses carrying 2 sets of
wind-braced purlins, and a flat boarded ceiling over the upper
set.

Listing NGR: SJ3146399478

Recommended Books

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)