The restored splendour of Old Christ Church Waterloo

Today I had the pleasure of visiting Old Christ Church in Waterloo. This is an impressive mock gothic building which became redundant as regular place of worship.It eventually came into the ownership of the Church Conservation Trust who in partnership with the local Friends Group have done a magnificent job of conserving the church and opening it up for community use. (I shall be visiting the Beer Festival there in April).

  Today we were marking the completion of the latest phase of restoration. It was great to meet so many of the enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers, their partnership with the Church Conservation Trust has borne fruit. I also met the contractors who specialise in conservation work and carried out the work on Bootle War Memorial (which I was involved in re-dedicating) and the Observatory at Hesketh Park in Southport.

The church was built out of Bootle sandstone and covered with Westmoreland slates. (One of the volunteers told me that the quarry was at the top of Fenhill Rd in what is now the park). The architects were the leading Lancashire firm of Paley,Austin & Paley who were at the forefront of the later Gothic revival. Some of their decoration is said to verge on Art Nouveau and they had a penchant for adding Latin quotations over windows and doors

Laudate Dominum-Praise the Lord

Chair of the Friends and the contractors