St Oswald's Church, Bidston

St Oswald's Church is in Bidston, an area of Birkenhead, Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.[1] It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Birkenhead.[2]

St Oswald's Church, Bidston
St Oswald's Church, Bidston, from the south
St Oswald's Church, Bidston Location in Merseyside
OS grid reference	SJ 283 903
Location	Bidston, Birkenhead, Wirral, Merseyside
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Churchmanship	Evangelical
Website	St Oswald's, Bidston
History
Status	Parish church
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	29 July 1950
Architect(s)	W. & J. Hay, G. E. Grayson
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic, Gothic Revival
Completed	1882
Specifications
Materials	Coursed and squared rubble Westmorland slate roof with ridge cresting
Administration
Parish	Bidston
Deanery	Birkenhead
Archdeaconry	Chester
Diocese	Chester
Province	York
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Rev Ron Iveson
Laity
Reader(s)	Arthur Sinnott, Rob Morsley, Jayne Morsley
Churchwarden(s)	Claire Gartland, Tony Endean

History

The original church dates back to the 13th century.[3] The tower was built in 1520.[4] The rest of the church was rebuilt in 1855–56 by W. and J. Hay in Gothic Revival style. An extension was made to the chancel in 1882 by G. E. Grayson.[5]

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built from coursed and squared rubble in large blocks with a roof of Westmorland slate with ridge cresting. Its plan consists of a west tower, a nave, north and south aisles with gable roofs, a south porch, and a chancel.[1] Heraldic shields over the west door date it between 1504 and 1521.[5] The tower is in three stages with angle buttresses and an embattled parapet.[1]

Interior

In the chancel is a sedilia dated 1882. The reredos is a mosaic depicting The Last Supper by Salviati over which is a wooden canopy frieze.[1] The stained glass includes windows by Morris & Co., Robert Anning Bell, H. Gustave Hiller, H. Hughes, Powell and Frank O. Salisbury.[5] The two-manual organ dating from 1929 is by Henry Willis & Sons.[6] There is a ring of six bells by Robert Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, five of which are dated 1868 and the other 1882.[7] The parish registers begin in 1679 and the churchwardens' accounts in 1767.[4]

External features

The churchyard contains four war graves, each of which represents a different service; a British Army Colonel of World War I, and a Royal Air Force officer, a Royal Navy and a Merchant Navy sailor of World War II.[8]

See also

• Listed buildings in Bidston
• List of works by Grayson and Ould

References

1. Historic England, "Church of St Oswald, Birkenhead (1201549)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 18 July 2012
2. St Oswald, Bidston, Church of England, retrieved 11 May 2011
3. Salter, Mark (1995), The Old Parish Churches of Cheshire, Malvern: Folly Publications, p. 24, ISBN 1-871731-23-2
4. Richards, Raymond (1947), Old Cheshire Churches, London: Batsford, pp. 51–54
5. Hartwell, Claire; Hyde, Matthew; Hubbard, Edward; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2011) [1971], Cheshire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 151–152, ISBN 978-0-300-17043-6
6. "NPOR N04426", National Pipe Organ Register, British Institute of Organ Studies, retrieved 1 July 2020
7. Bidston S Oswald, Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, retrieved 9 August 2008
8. BIDSTON (ST. OSWALD) CHURCHYARD, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, retrieved 4 February 2013

Further reading

• Budden, Charles W. (1922). Rambles round the old churches of Wirral. Liverpool: Edward Howell Ltd.