Maghull & Lydiate Churches. Past & Present.

Along with Melling, the modern parishes of Lydiate and Maghull were part of the large parish of Halsall, right up until the mid 1800s. And churches in the area were administered as part of the Diocese of Lichfield, until the creation of a new Diocese based on Chester in 1541.

St Andrews. Church of England.

Damfield Lane, Maghull.
Tel:-0151-526-5017 or 0151-531-8972.
Minister:-Reverend Martin Duerden

In the churchyard behind the church stands the Ancient Chapel of Maghull. Today, the proud remains of this 12^th - 13^th century chapel remain tucked quietly behind the Victorian church of St Andrews at the corner of Damfield Lane and Northway. It is a quaint little gem, still used for occasional services. Once it had a nave, but these days it comprises a small Chancel and the Lady Chapel, long since renamed the UNSWORTH CHAPEL.

The Latin Mass would have been celebrated here, to be replaced by services from the First Prayer Book in the time of Edward IV in 1549. A rich mixture of architectural styles and traditions, the chapel today is a Grade II listed building and remains the oldest ecclesiastical building still in regular religious use in Merseyside and West Lancashire. And, fittingly, the Latin Mass is still celebrated when the chapel is in use.

Frank HORNBY was already an established toy manufacter (Meccano) when he moved to Maghull, first to the Hollies then The White House in Foxhouse Lane and later to Quarry Brook, once the home of William VESTY (later Lord VESTY) of the Blue Star Shipping line. In 1929 Frank HORNBY became Unionist MP for Bootle, but he suffered from diabetes and died in the David Lewis Northern Hospital in 1936, aged 73. The family grave in St Andrews' churchyard was cleaned and renovated in the 1990s, the work paid for by the Hornby Railway Collectors Association.

Members of the UNSWORTH family are buried within this chapel and there are memorials to the MATHER family.

Under the alter is buried Richard FORMBY, aged three (d.1823) son of Richard FORMBY, Lord of the Manor at that time. His mother is buried beside him.

Elizabeth SHERDLEY, wife of an 18c curate lies under what is believed to be the old Altar Stone, now inscribed with her initials.

St Georges. Roman Catholic.

Station Road, Maghull.
Tel:-0151-526-1071
Priest:-Fr Joe Kelly

In 1829 the Act of Catholic Emancipation was passed. From that time until near the end of the 19^th Century, Catholics in Maghull travelled to St Benets in Netherton, for the celebration of Mass. In 1927 the foundation stone of the present church was laid. Extensions were added during the 1970s & 1980s.

Maghull Methodist Church.

Liverpool Road, Maghull.
Tel:-0151-526-2836
Minister:-Reverend David GLASSON

Maghull Methodist Church began life in 1897 as a country chapel serving Maghull & Lydiate. In the late 1960s a new church was built, and the old church is now the church hall.

Maghull Baptist Church.

Minister:- Reverend Stuart Davison
Tel No:- 0151-520-2141 or 0151-527-2598

Maghull Baptist Church has a romantic past. Built on land originally farmed by Sam BOYER, it had once been the old rhubarb patch and when building began in the 1950s, the planning officer wrote to Mr Boyer 'If you would like to remove the old Rhubarb roots we can begin...'

The Kings Church.

Leadership Contact:- BrianLake
Tel No:-0151-932-1595 or 0151-531-6260
HTTP://thekingschurch.merseyside.org/
admin[at]thekingschurch.merseyside[dot]org

The Kings Church, or Maghull Christian Fellowship as it was first called, started life in 1983. The church has never owned their own building in Maghull or Lydiate but has met at a variety of locations.

St Peters, Church of England.

Moorhey Road, Maghull
Team Vicar:-Petro HRYZIUK
Tel No:-0151-526-3434

St Peters church should have been built in 1938 as the Alt Park housing estate neared completion, but the war intervened to put the project back a decade. Plans were eventually put forward in 1949 and the original building was consecrated on St Peters Day - June 29, 1951.

St Thomas. Church of England.

Church Lane, Lydiate.
Vicar:- Reverend Alan Davies
Tel No:-0151-526-0512

St Thomas parish encompasses Lydiate, Haskayne and Downholland, situated in both Merseyside and Lancashire.

Before 1841, residents in these villages could attend services at either Halsall or Maghull. Lydiate resident Mr Richard Bryan SMITH's suggstion that a church be built at Lydiate was greeted enthusiastically by those whose Sunday worship could involve a walk of up to six miles. Mr SMITH, a deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire and the Hanoverian Consul, provided £1,500 towards the project. Stone from the quarry at Aughton was carted by 61 local farmers who were each presented with the medal shown here.

IN
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
OF THEIR GRATUITOUS
ASSISTANCE TOWARDS
THE ERECTION OF THE
NEW DISTRICT CHURCH
THIS MEDAL
WAS PRESENTED TO
LXI FARMERS
BY RICHARD BRYN SMITH
AD 1840

St Thomas remained a chapel within the parish of Halsall until 1871 when it became a Parish in its own right. St Thomas's relatively simple structure, unkindly described as 'barn like' was said by the Archdeacon to be unworthy of the Church of England. In 1912 the second of St Thomass developments corrected this when the fine new Chancel was completed.

Our Ladys, Lydiate. Roman Catholic.

Priest:-Fr James G. Moore
Tel No:-0151-526-0362

The first Catholic Church in Lydiate was built in 1480 and dedicated to St Katherine, the patron saint of the wife of Lawrence Ireland, who lived at Lydiate Hall. The church is now a ruin and is simply known locally as 'The Abbey'

There is a stained glass window in Our Ladys, which is a reminder of less tolerant times. It is dedicated to the memory of Margaret RIMMER, who in 1680 was a 'recusant' - in other words a Catholic who refused to swear allegiance to the Church of England, when such an oath was deemed compulsory.

The church also contains relics rescued from St Katherines Chapel, including several fine carvings, one of which adorns the pulpit.St Marys Church, now known as Our Ladys was built in 1854. The architect was J.J.Scoles, who also designed the church of St Francis Xavier, in Liverpool.

Lydiate:Clinging to its rural roots

Lydiate has always seemed to be a parish with a melancholy air about it. Perhaps because it lies cheek by jowl with its larger neighbour, perhaps because parish boundaries between the two are now so blurred it is impossible to know where Maghull ends and Lydiate begins....and perhaps because Lydiate seems to be the parish of forgotten dreams.

Not only has it the ruins of St Katherines 'Abbey' but also of Lydiate Hall. Today only the chimneys stand as testament to its proud past. Home of the Ireland family, the oldest parts were said to date from the 15^th century. Its history was detailed by Father Thomas GIBSON who wrote Lydiate Hall and its Associations, taken to be the first true history of the parish. Father GIBSON is buried in Our Ladys Churchyard, beside the ancient wayside cross.

Today, Our Ladys and St Thomass, both large and imposing landmarks, stand testament to a faithful past and hopeful future.

St Georges United Reformed

57 Northway, Maghull.
Minister:-Reverend Lys CARROL
Tel No:-0151-526-1677

In 1938 as the centre of Liverpool was becoming increasingly depopulated, St Georges then part of the English Presbyterian Church, after 100 years in Myrtle Street, stepped out in faith and set up home in Maghull then merely a village but fast developing into a suburb of the City. The first church building was a 'temporary' wooden hut, which served for worship until 1950, when the present church was built by Joseph Apinall, a member of the congregation at that time.

St James. Church of England.

Green Lane, Maghull
Minister:- Reverend Ken Dagger
Tel No:- 0151-526-6626

St James Church is part of the Maghull Anglican 'team ministry', along with St Andrews and St Peters. It was opened in july 1976 to serve the new Green Park estate. Originally it was intended that the church would stand at the hub of the estate, alongside the two schools. However, having reached as far as where the church now stands, building work on the estate stopped. Consequently, the church now marks the the edge of the Green Lane estate, where suburban' meets 'rural'.

St Gregorys, Lydiate. Roman Catholic.

Liverpool Road, Lydiate.
Priest:-Reverend. John P. Smith
Tel No:-0151-526-3843

St Gregorys parish was founded because local Catholics, led by the late Jack GELANOS, petitioned Archbishop Godfrey in 1956 to appoint a priest to serve the Catholic population of the rapidly growing housing estates in Lydiate. Father GODFREY was appointed to establish a new mission in the area. At first Mass was celebrated in Lambshear Lane School, but in 1958 work was begun on a new church in Liverpool Road. The foundation Stone was laid by Archbishop Heenan in May of that year, and the first mass was celebrated in the new church at Midnight on Christmas Eve, 1958.

Maghull Chapel

Foxhouse Lane, Maghull.
Contact:-Geoff ARDERN
Tel No:- 0151-226-9650

Maghull Chapel is a BIY church, 'Build it yourself' or rather selves' on land used as a paddock for a donkey, whose shelter was made of old railway sleepers. The land in Foxhouse Lane was owned by a member of the BOYER family, who lived at No 87, next door to the chapel. The BOYERs were a well known farming family in the area, and a relative also donated land on which Maghull Baptist now stands.

It all began in the early 1960s with a group of Free Evangelical Christians living in Maghull and Lydiate who met in each others homes to pray. An almost unique feature of Maghull Chapel is the abscence of ordained leaders. The church is administered entirely by lay folk, each employed in 'normal' (secular) work.

Worship 2000

Contact:- Keith WELLS
Tel No :-0151-526-0141

Beechpark Community Church was founded by folk from Maghull Chapel on the estate adjacent to Ashworth Hospital and owned by Riverside Housing Association.

All information extracted from Millenium Matters. A joint publication issued to every household in Maghull and Lydiate by the Millenium Christian Projects in these parishes.

Charles LYON
Maghull
Merseyside
UK