St Luke’s Church, Crosby

This etching on the front of the 1904 accounts shows how little St Luke’s has changed in a century. The fire of 1972 made the biggest change: a new roof and chancel had to be formed and the organ pipes moved from beside the chancel to the gallery. The glory of St Luke’s is in its transept windows, which were renovated to their original brilliance after the fire. Most of them were built by the Belgian Capronnier who did much to revive the art of glass-painting, and won the only medal for glass painting at the Paris Exhibition of 1855. This guide takes you on a tour of the church starting with the first window in the north transept, on the left as you face the altar.

Many of the windows were built through the generosity of the Houghton family. Richard Houghton, a timber merchant, moved from Liverpool to Waterloo in 1848. Starting with the first window on the left, and going round clockwise, the windows depict:

Jesus’ appearance to Mary Magdalene and Thomas (1877)

The Resurrection of Christ and his future return (1866)

The Wise Men offering gifts (1869) commemorating Richard Houghton’s son, Richard, and his daughters Mary and Helen

The healing of Jairus’ daughter (1869), also commemorating Mary

The Transfiguration of Jesus and his Ascension (1877)

The Angel appearing to the shepherds (1873) commemorating Richard Houghton’s wife, Elizabeth

John the Baptist pointing to Jesus, commemorating Richard Houghton’s uncle, John Johnson

The Good Samaritan (1866) commemorating John Myers who contributed very much to the cost of the building

The Annunciation (1884) commemorating Richard Houghton himself

Jesus appearing to his disciples after the storm on the lake.

The Good Samaritan Chapel, by the window of the same name, was paid for after the fire by All Saints’ Church and is available for prayer, especially for healing.

An apse has replaced the former chancel destroyed in the fire.

The Holy Table was introduced to St Luke’s in 1968 and has a matching Credence Table. These, together with the communion rails, survived the fire in what seemed to be a miracle. In fact the makers had coated them in a fire-proof substance.

The clergy chairs and desks bear the names and dates of the two schools so long associated with the Parish: the Halsall Girls School (1758-1972) and St Luke’s Boys School (1871-1974). The re-modelled Church of England Halsall School now takes both boys and girls.

The lectern was given in 1888 by Mrs Bousfield in memory of her husband. They lived in ‘The Mulberries’, a grand house opposite the church, now incorporated into Merchant Taylors Girls School.

The cross on the east wall is made out of some timbers from the old roof damaged by the fire, as is the portable cross.

The diamond shaped recess in the floor behind the main arch contains tiles recovered from the old chancel floor.

The nave windows are new, of plain glass. The coloured glass at the top of each window was cleaned after the fire.

The pews were obtained from St Benedict’s Church, Everton after the fire. Made of pitch pine, they were restored for the rebuilt St Luke’s.

In 1888 a new baptistery was formed by moving the font from the front of the church, just in front of the reading desk in front of the organ pipes which covered the right-hand chancel arch, to the back where it is now. In 1920 a war memorial was placed behind it as a tribute to the men of the parish who died in the 1914-18 war, and later another one was added in memory of those who died in the 1939-45 war.

On the front of the gallery is a coat of arms which came from the old St Michael’s Church and dates from the time of William IV (1830-37). The bear is included because William was also King of Hanover. Queen Victoria, who succeeded William in Great Britain, could not succeed in Hanover, where only men could reign, so the bear was then omitted from the Royal Arms.

The organ pipes were moved from the right-hand chancel arch into the gallery after the fire.

After fund raising in 1863 through a bazaar, a peal of six bells, the biggest weighing 9 cwt, was installed in the tower. The first peal of bells was on 28 January 1864, and the first muffled peal on 1 April 1864 on the occasion of the death of Robert Mawdsley’s wife. The bells were rehung in the early 1900s and again in 1922 and 1975. In 1936 the belfry was restored and renovated as a memorial to King George V.

The clock is by Thomas Cooke (1807-1868) and is dated 1864. It is listed in the company’s last turret clock catalogue (1876) as “An eight day Clock, striking the hours on a bell of 9½ cwt; with two illuminated glass panels (originally gas), 4 feet 9 inches diameter.” The mechanism is of the typical Cooke A Frame construction for which the company received a special mention at the London International Exhibition of 1862. The turret clock is housed in a wooden enclosure, which is again typical for Cooke installations, and is to a design similar to that specified by Thomas Cooke himself. Originally there were two turret clock installations in the Liverpool area by this maker, but the other one, at Anfield Cemetery (1863) was replaced by an electric version some years ago. A memorial plaque on the clock reads: “To the Glory of God this clock was erected, in the year 1864 by Public Subscription through the energy of Mrs Susannah Barnes, wife of Dr FW Barnes, who was for fourteen years Vicars’ [sic] Warden.”

The seat on the right hand side of the path was made out of some bricks from St Luke’s Boys School which in turn were taken from the old St Michael’s Chapel.

The graveyard was consecrated for the burial of the first Vicar, Richard Walker, who died only a few weeks after the church was dedicated. An addition was made to the graveyard in 1905 beyond the church to the east. In 1924 another extension was made beyond the present car park area and a final one added to the side of the church in 1947.

6000 plots were then available covering four and a half acres with about 20,000 burials. In the oldest part of the graveyard there does not seem to have been any chronological order of burial, presumably because at the time there appeared to be so much space. There are now only a very few plots left and new graves have to be restricted to members of the church.

old St Michael's

The church in Great Crosby is mentioned in 1532 and in 1552. The church registers date only from 1749, the old registers having been unfortunately destroyed. From 1630 1643 the Headmaster of Merchant Taylors’ School was usually the parson in charge of the church of Great Crosby, and would live in the Old Parsonage, built in 1668. In 1659 the Parliamentary Commissioners stated that in Crosby there was “an ancient chapel, well situated”, but in 1770 it had been demolished and replaced by a brick building called St Michael’s, which in turn was replaced by the present St Luke’s in 1853.

A full account of the history of the church and schools is obtainable from the Parish Office.