A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Later came St. Philip Neri's Oratory near Mount 

 Pleasant, 1853. All Souls', in Collingwood Street, 

 was erected in 1870 by the efforts of a Protestant 

 merchant, who was anxious to provide a remedy for 

 the horrible scenes at wakes ; the middle aisle of the 

 church was for the bodies of the departed to lie in 

 previous to interment, and was quite cut off from the 

 aisles where the congregation assembled, by glass 

 partitions. This has recently been changed. St. 

 Bridget's, Bevington Hill, was also opened in 1870, 

 and rebuilt in 1 894. St. Sylvester's in Silvester Street 

 began with schools in 1872 ; at the beginning of 1875 

 a wooden building was erected adjacent, continuing 

 in use until 1889, when the present permanent church 

 was opened. 



There are two convents : Notre Dame, at the train- 

 ing college, Mount Pleasant, 1856; and St. Catherine, 

 Eldon Place, 1 896. 



The followers of Emmanuel Swedenborg have long 

 had a place of meeting in Liverpool, where they had 

 been known from 1 79 5 .* 6 The present building, New 

 Jerusalem, in Bedford Street, was opened in 1857. 



The IVormons have an institute. 907 



The Jews have had a recognized meeting-place 

 since about 1750. The earliest known was at the 

 foot of Matthew Street ; it had a burial place attached ; 

 afterwards Turton Court, near the Custom House, 

 and Frederick Street were places of Jewish worship. 903 

 The synagogue in Seel Street was built in 1807, the 

 congregation migrating to Princes Road in 1874. 

 A disused Presbyterian church in Islington has recently 

 (1908) been purchased and reopened as the Central 

 Synagogue. The Hope Place Synagogue of the New 

 Hebrew Congregation was built in 1856.^ 



The establishment of the diocese 

 CATHEDRAL of Liverpool 910 immediately gave 

 rise to the demand for the erection 

 of a cathedral ; the parish church of St. Peter, which 

 had been assigned as pro-cathedral by an Order in 

 Council of 1880, being manifestly inadequate, being 

 indeed the most modest church to which that dignity 

 has been allotted in any English diocese. A com- 

 mittee was formed in 1881, and a lively discussion as 

 to sites was carried on, 911 the St. John's churchyard 

 site (west of St. George's Hall) being eventually 

 decided on. In 1885 an Act was obtained empower- 

 ing the erection of a cathedral, and a competition was 

 held for designs," 1 and the premium was awarded to 

 Mr. William Emerton. The problem of raising 

 funds, however, was found too great, and in 1888 

 the project was abandoned. Under Bishop Ryle the 

 main strength of the diocese was devoted to the 

 urgently-needed provision of new churches and the 

 augmentation oi poorer livings. At the beginning of 

 1901, however, the project was revived 813 by Bishop 

 Chavasse, who appointed a committee to discuss the 

 question of sites. Amid much public discussion, 



St. James's Mount, in the south-central district of the 

 city, was decided upon a rocky plateau occupied in 

 part by public gardens and overlooking an ancient 

 quarry, now used as a cemetery. The site presented 

 a clear open space of 22 acres ; the steep side of the 

 plateau, clothed with trees, gives it something of the 

 picturesqueness of Durham, while the deep hollow of 

 the cemetery will serve to isolate the cathedral and 

 give to its architecture its full effect. Over 150 ft. 

 above sea-level, the site will enable the cathedral to 

 dominate the city and the estuary. The drawbacks 

 of the site were two : its shape forbade a proper 

 orientation, and made it necessary to put the ' east ' 

 end of the cathedral to the south, while the fact that 

 the southern part of the plateau was made ground 

 involved a large expenditure for foundations. 



The scheme was formally initiated and committees 

 appointed 914 at a town hall meeting on 17 June 1901, 

 and on 2 August 1902 an Act was obtained authoriz- 

 ing the purchase from the corporation of the St. James's 

 Mount site. After a preliminary competition, com- 

 petitive designs were submitted by five selected can- 

 didates on 30 April 1903 ; the assessors, Mr. G. F. 

 Bodley and Mr. Norman Shaw, selected the design of 

 Mr. G. Gilbert Scott, who was accordingly appointed 

 architect in conjunction 1 with Mr. Bodley. On 

 19 July 1904 the foundation stone was laid by His 

 Majesty the King. The general character of the 

 design is Gothic, but it is not a reproduction of the 

 style of any particular period. The main qualities 

 aimed at are simplicity and massiveness. The most 

 striking features will be the twin central towers and a 

 third tower at the north end, respectively rising 415 

 and 355 ft. above sea-level ; the vast height of the 

 nave and choir, and the six high transepts, which are 

 carried to the full roof height, and will produce 

 unusual light effects. Both in height and in area the 

 dimensions considerably exceed those of any other 

 English cathedral. The principal dimensions are as 

 follows : 



Total external length (including 



Lady chapel) ..... 584 ft. 



Length of nave, without narthex 192 



Width of nave between centres 



Width across transepts ... 

 Width of north fafade ... 

 Height of arches in nave and 



choir ........ 



Height of barrel-vaulting in 



nave and choir ..... 

 Height of vaulting in high tran- 



septs ........ 



Height of vaulting under towers 

 Height of central towers . . . 

 Height of northern tower . 



198 

 196 



65 



116 



140 

 161 

 260 



200 



Superficial area ..... 90,000 sq. ft. 



906 They occupied Key Street Chapel 

 from 1791 to 1795. In 1795 Maguire 

 Street Chapel was built for them, but the 

 donor became bankrupt and the place was 

 sold. From 1815 to 1819 the Sweden- 

 borgians used Cockspur Street Chapel, from 

 1819 to 1823 they shared Maguire Street 

 with the Primitive Methodists, and from 

 1838 to 1852 they occupied Salem Chapel 

 in Russell Street, removing to the Concert 

 Room in Lord Nelson Street until the 

 Bedford Street Church was ready ; Tram. 

 Hi,t. Soc. v, 33, 38, 43. 



"'~ In 1863 their meeting-place was at 

 the corner of Crown Street and Brownlow 

 Hill ; later in Islington, and Bittern Street. 



908 For fuller accounts see Trans. Hist. 

 Soc. v, 53, and (new ser.), XT, 45-84.. 

 There were burial places at Frederick 

 Street and at the corner of Oake and 

 Crown Streets. 



One of the results of the Jewish settle- 

 ment in Liverpool was a series of three 

 letters addressed to it by J. Willme of 

 Martinscroft near Warrington, printed in 

 1756. 



52 



909 The congregation had previously 

 met in Pilgrim Street. 



910 y.C.H. Lanes, ii, 96. 



911 Articles in Nineteenth Century, 1881 

 and 1884, &c. 



912 Copies of designs are preserved in 

 the City Library. 



918 A collection of papers, &c., &c., in 

 seven volumes, in the City Library, pro- 

 vides full material for the history of tlis 

 movement. 



914 Rep. of Proceedings published by 

 Cathedral Committee. 



