Manor Church Centre, Egremont
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox church
| denomination = United Reformed, Presbyterian and Methodist
| name = Manor Church Centre
| fullname =
| image = Manor Church Centre 2017-1.jpg
| imagesize =
| imagealt =
| caption = Liturgical west end of the Manor Church Centre
| pushpin map = Merseyside
| pushpin label position =
| pushpin map alt =
| pushpin mapsize = 200
| map caption = Location in Merseyside
| coordinates = {{coord|53.4238|-3.0326|region:GB_type:landmark|display=title}}
| country = England
| location = Seabank Road, Egremont, Merseyside
| functional status =Closed
| heritage designation = Grade II
| designated date = 20 January 1988
| architect = Briggs, Wolstenholme and Thornley
| architectural type = Church and church hall
| style = Arts and Crafts and Gothic Revival
| groundbreaking = 1907
| completed date = 1908
| construction cost = £19,000
| closed date = c. 2011
| capacity = 1,000
| materials = Sandstone, slate roof
}}
The Manor Church Centre was a combined church and church hall on Seabank Road, Egremont, Merseyside, England. It was built in 1907–08 as Egremont Presbyterian Church, later became Egremont United Reformed Church, and in 1994 joined with a local Methodist church to become the Manor Church Centre. The church was designed by Briggs, Wolstenholme and Thornley, is constructed in sandstone, and is in a mixture of Arts and Crafts and Gothic Revival styles. The church is notable for the stained glass in its windows. The church and hall are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. The church was closed c. 2011 as a result of dwindling congregation numbers.
History
The building originated as Egremont Presbyterian Church. In 1862–63 the local Presbyterians built their first church in King Street. It was in Neoclassical style and could accommodate a congregation of 600. At the beginning of the 20th century it was decided to build the present church, which is larger and on a different site. This was designed by Briggs, Wolstenholme and Thornley, and the foundation stone was laid by Lord Balfour of Burleigh on 18 April 1907. The church cost £19,000, it can accommodate 1,000 people, and it opened for worship in 1908.{{sfn|History of Wallasey|ps=}} The church hall was added in 1910.{{sfnp|Hartwell|Hyde|Hubbard|Pevsner|2011|p=652|ps=}} In 1972 the Presbyterian Church of England and the Congregational Church in England and Wales joined to form the United Reformed Church, and the church became Egremont United Reformed Church. In 1994 it united with Trinity Methodist Church and became the Manor Church Centre.{{sfn|History of Wallasey|ps=}} It was closed around 2011.
Architecture
=Exterior=
The church centre consists of a church and an attached church hall.{{sfnp|Hartwell|Hyde|Hubbard|Pevsner|2011|p=652|ps=}}{{efn|The church is orientated with the liturgical east end at the west.{{sfnp|Historic England|1258397|ps=}} In this article the liturgical orientation is used in the description.}} The church is constructed in red sandstone from Runcorn,{{sfn|History of Wallasey|ps=}} and its roof is slated.{{sfnp|Historic England|1258397|ps=}} Its architectural style is a mixture of Arts and Crafts and Gothic Revival.{{sfnp|Hartwell|Hyde|Hubbard|Pevsner|2011|p=652|ps=}} The plan consists of a nave with north and south passage (narrow) aisles, a north transept, a short chancel, and a southwest tower. The hall is at right angles to the church. The tower has angle buttresses, and pairs of louvred bell openings. At the top is a cornice carved with foliage and beasts, and a panelled and embattled parapet.{{sfnp|Historic England|1258397|ps=}} The tower is {{convert|60|ft|m|0}} high.{{sfn|History of Wallasey|ps=}} At the (liturgical) west end are three lancet windows with a five-light window above containing Perpendicular tracery. Flanking the windows are bays, each containing a gabled porch with niches above and, at the top, an embattled parapet. On the south side of the church are three projecting gabled bays and two bays between them. On the north side are two projecting bays with one bay between, and a two-bay transept. Each bay contains a three-light window. The east window has five lights. Attached to the church beyond the transept is a chapel keeper's house.{{sfnp|Historic England|1258397|ps=}} The church hall is in Tudor style.{{sfnp|Hartwell|Hyde|Hubbard|Pevsner|2011|p=652|ps=}} It has four bays, and contains mullioned and transomed windows.{{sfnp|Historic England|1258397|ps=}}
=Interior=
The interior is spacious and provides uninterrupted views for the congregation.{{sfnp|Hartwell|Hyde|Hubbard|Pevsner|2011|p=652|ps=}} The five-bay arcades are carried on octagonal piers. The church has a hammerbeam roof with corbels decorated with foliage. There is a west gallery. The pulpit is octagonal and contains figures in niches. The font is carried on four green columns, and is decorated with traceried panels.{{sfnp|Historic England|1258397|ps=}} The stained glass in the east window depicts the Empty Tomb, and is by H. G. Hiller. In the transept is a window of 1908 designed by William Aikman and made by Powell's depicting The Sower. Also on the north side is a window by Wilhelmina Geddes, dated 1934, and a window by Gilbert Gamon depicting Faith, Hope and Charity. On the south side are two windows made for the Artificers' Guild, one designed by John H. Bonnor, and the other by Edward Woore. Between these, and elsewhere in the church, are windows by Morris & Co. The west window contains glass designed by Percy Bacon.{{sfnp|Hartwell|Hyde|Hubbard|Pevsner|2011|p=652|ps=}}
Appraisal
The church and church hall were designated as a Grade II listed building on 20 January 1988.{{sfnp|Historic England|1258397|ps=}} Grade II is the lowest of the three grades of listing and is applied to "buildings of national importance and special interest".{{sfn|Historic England|ps=}} When the church was completed in 1908, it was the largest Presbyterian church in England.{{sfn|History of Wallasey|ps=}} Hartwell et al. describe the stained glass in the windows as being "outstanding".{{sfnp|Hartwell|Hyde|Hubbard|Pevsner|2011|p=652|ps=}}
See also
Notes and references
Notes
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Citations
{{Reflist}}
Sources
{{Refbegin}}
- {{Citation | last = Hartwell | first = Clare |last2 = Hyde | first2 = Matthew |last3 = Hubbard | first3 = Edward | author3-link=Edward Hubbard (architectural historian) | last4 =Pevsner | first4 =Nikolaus | author4-link =Nikolaus Pevsner | series= The Buildings of England| title = Cheshire | publisher =Yale University Press| year =2011| orig-year=1971| location =New Haven and London| isbn =978-0-300-17043-6 }}
- {{NHLE |num= 1258397|desc= Manor Church Centre|access-date= 22 January 2014|mode=cs2}}
- {{Citation | author = Historic England | title = Listed Buildings | url = http://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/what-is-designation/listed-buildings/|access-date= 3 April 2015 }}
- {{Citation | author = History of Wallasey| title = History of Wallasey Churches:Egremont| url = http://www.historyofwallasey.co.uk/wallasey/Wallasey_Churches_Egremont/index.html#Manor_Church_Centre |access-date= 22 January 2014 }}
{{Refend}}
{{Commons category|Egremont Presbyterian Church}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Egremont, Manor Church Centre}}
Category:Churches completed in 1908
Category:20th-century Church of England church buildings
Category:Churches in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Category:Grade II listed churches in Merseyside
Category:Gothic Revival church buildings in England
Category:Gothic Revival architecture in Merseyside