St Anne (Richmond), Liverpool, Church of England

The churchyard was closed for burials in the 1850s.

St. Anne's Richmond was opened for divine service on 25th October 1772. The building had been started earlier and had been completed under the terms of 'An Act for completing a building intended for a new Church or Chapel at Richmond near Everton...' 1772. The church was built at the expense of Thomas and Richard Dobb, cabinetmakers, of Williamson Square and a Henry North, fruit merchant, Dale Street. The church was built on land belonging to them. They had noted that there was a need for a church 'in some convenient part near to Everton due to the increasing population'. The church stood in what later became known as St. Anne Street. According to an article in 'Topographical News cuttings: St. Anne's Church, St. Anne Street' [Liverpool Record Office] for many years 'the original St. Anne's held the most aristocratic congregation in the town and the pews at one time were sold for sixty and seventy guineas to some of the most noted families of the period'. There were no free pews in the church, the pew rents and money given for burial plots in the churchyard having largely made up the incumbent's income.

In time the 'character of the locality deteriorated'. The rich moved away, the poor owned no pews and by the middle of the 19th century the church had fallen into neglect and disuse.

In 1865 the Liverpool Construction Act was passed on 26 May 1865. Under the terms of this act, St. Anne's Street was to be extended into Cazneau Street. To facilitate this, the Act provided for the demolition of St. Anne's Church but its terms prevented the Corporation from pulling down St. Anne's before erecting a new church. The Corporation duly built the new church of St. Anne's at the corner of St. Anne Street and Great Richmond Street and the consecration of the new building took place on 16th November 1871.

For the middle period of the 19th century, from 1849 - 1889, the incumbent of St. Anne's was Rev. William Wheeler. He was succeeded in 1886 by Reverend Charles Dudley Pater who restored the church to activity, built and lived in a vicarage next to the church and built a parish room etc.

In 1937, the parish of St. Stephen (Byrom Street) was merged with the parish of St. Anne and St. Anne's became the parish church of the united parish the living of St. Anne's fell vacant in 1956. The question of the closure of the church was under discussion for some time and in 1970 the parish of St. Anne, Richmond, with St. Stephen was united with the parish of Liverpool (Our Lady of St. Nicholas) the Parish Church (St. Nicholas) becoming the parish church of the united parish. Sadly, St. Anne's Church has now been demolished.

Denis Houghton was church warden along with the late Mr W.H. Naylor when the church closed in 1971. The church was served as vicar from 1911 to 1948 by Rev Sidney Arthur John Barratt. The next Vicar was Rev Thomas Richard Humphries from 1949 to 1956. There was an interegnum until the church closed.

The architect for this church was Edward Robert Robson who, from 1864 to 1871, was Surveyor to the Corporation of Liverpool. In this capacity he completed the building of the Municipal Buildings on Dale Street and also built the screen wall and pavilions at Stanley Park, Anfield. The church, however, seems to have been a private commission. Robson left Liverpool in 1871 to become architect and surveyor to the School Board for London in which capacity he was responsible for over 400 schools in London. For more on Robson, see the Oxford DNB.

Whilst every effort has been made to record exact details of record office and library holdings you are recommended to check with them before visiting to ensure that they do hold the records and years you wish to examine. Similarly check with transcript publishers to ensure they cover the records and years you require before making a purchase.

The church records were sent in 1971 to St Nicholas church Pier Head. The original church was located

This site provides historical information about churches, other places of worship and cemeteries. It has no connection with the churches themselves.

It was located at SJ3508391357 (Lat/Lon 53.415007, -2.978158). You can see this on maps provided by:

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It was located at SJ3502191372 (Lat/Lon 53.415134, -2.979094). You can see this on maps provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)