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The History
of the Churches
Compiled by
Richard Turner
The
parish of Thurstaston, which is situated some fifteen miles west of
Chester and seven miles south of Birkenhead, includes some of the
highest ground in the Wirral Peninsula, overlooking fields that descend
to the shores of the River Dee. The Church, though a mere hundred yards
from the busy main road, lies quietly in the middle of the village of
Thurstaston, which unlike many of the surrounding villages remains
unspoilt.
'Turstanetone'
is recorded in the Domesday Book as being held by
Robert de Rodelent (or
Rhuddlan), a cousin of Hugh, the nephew of William I. Hugh surnamed
Lupus, but called by the Welsh 'The Fat', was created Earl of Chester
and gave Thurstaston to Robert along with many other lands in the Wirral
and as much as he could conquer in North Wales. The earliest mention of
a Church occurs about 1125, when Robert's son Matthew granted the church
to the Abbey of Saint Werburgh in Chester. However, other evidence
suggests that it may have existed in Saxon times. It remained in
the possession of that Monastery with the right of presentation with the
Abbot and monks until the Dissolution, when it was given to the newly
formed Diocese of Chester. The gift of the living then became, and still
is, with the Dean and Chapter of Chester.
The
Norman Church at Thurstaston
(print in the British Museum Library)
This
Norman Church endured for many hundreds of years with resulting
problems. In 1724 it was described as 'a mean building extremely small,
low and dark, and consisting of a body and semi-circular chancel with a
bell turret' and it stood at that time within the courtyard of
Thurstaston Hall.
This
Church was taken down in 1820 and a second edifice was completed in
1824. This was a plain stone building of no acknowledged style of
architecture. Nothing remains of the earlier church, but fortunately
the
tower of the second one still stands in the Southwest of the
Churchyard.
The
1820 Church at Thurstaston from a
photograph taken probably in the 1860s or 1870s.
The east wing of Thurstaston Hall is on the right.
At a
Vestry Meeting on 23rd March 1871, the pulling down of the second Church
was approved and the executors of Joseph Hegan of Dawpool set apart
£4,500 for a new church.
The present
beautiful edifice designed by J. Loughborough Pearson R.A. was
erected to the memory of Joseph Hegan of Dawpool by his two daughters,
and was consecrated by William Stubbs, Bishop of Chester, on the 7th
January 1886. It is a splendid example of a Victorian revival of
mid-gothic architecture, being of the late 13th century character and
built entirely of local sandstone, both inside and out. In the same year
the old building was taken down and the material used to build a wall to
enclose the new churchyard, which is now separated from the Hall.
The
Lychgate was erected in memory of Thomas
Henry Ismay of Dawpool in 1900. The name Ismay appears many times on
various brasses inset into the walls of the Church, and refers to the
ship-owning family, who in 1884 rebuilt and occupied Dawpool, a splendid
house that stood for only forty years. The Lychgate is of course fitted
with benches on which the bearers of the dead might deposit their burden
and rest before proceeding. A short path bordered by Yew trees leads to
the West door of the church. Around the archway inside the porch are two
inscriptions that record the dedication of the church by Joseph Hegan's
daughters. Above the entrance to the porch is a small niche. Since 1988
this has contained a statue of St Bartholomew, the work of Shelagh
Frances, a parishioner. There is also a beautiful stained glass window
dedicated to St. Bartholomew at the rear of the church, facing the
entrance door. This was paid for by the parishioners in memory of the
late Reverend John Henry Dodd, Rector of Thurstaston 1922-1934.
The
Parish War Memorial is a marble obelisk on which are engraved six names
of those who fell in the 1st World War and thirteen who fell in the 2nd
World War. Among those commemorated from the 1st World War is Frank
Lester VC. Click on the picture to read more about him and to read
the citation for his Victoria Cross.
Frank
Lester VC
Inside
the Church the effect of being in a small
cathedral is felt. The building was completed shortly before the
architect began work on Truro
Cathedral, and as one walks around one notices everywhere that on
the many pillars in the church one may have an engraved band surmounting
it while its pair on the other side has a plain band, possibly as if the
architect then stepped back and compared the two to see which was the
more pleasing design to use in his later and greatest work. Like a
cathedral it is divided into three distinct areas: nave, chancel and
sanctuary, the impression being given of increasing richness, as one
walks eastwards, culminating in an elaborately and finely sculpture
alabaster reredos, representing the
resurrection.
The reredos
Marble and alabaster abound, the floor of the chancel is
an arrangement of many coloured marbles and encaustic tiles, the steps
being all of marble. The pulpit is of alabaster, and richly carved in
open latticework. The whole of the upper portion of the font is
constructed of a solid piece of Mexican onyx, the pillars of Blue John
stone and the base of three different kinds of marble. Several of the
stained glass windows are very beautiful, especially the East and the
West windows,
and the organ contains painted wings in the early Italian style. The
copying of the gothic system of stone vaulted roofing is particularly
interesting.
Under the West window there is a stone taken from the south side of the first
church which, in curious lettering contains an ancient inscription:
SANCTI
BERTHLMI JOHN WITTMOR, WILLIAM HOE . . . it is incomplete and GARDIANI
is probably the missing word: so the inscription commemorated John
Whitmore and William Hoe Churchwardens of Saint Bartholomew's Church. A
facsimile may be seen alongside it.
On the West wall alongside the ancient inscription is a list of the rectors of
Thurstaston. This begins with Simon de Meoles who was instituted as the
incumbent in 1303 and from then the list is complete to the present day.
Two rectors are known before him however, Alan de Thornton in about
1212, and Robert de Thurstaston in about 1298, though there is doubt
about the latter who is described as chaplain. Some of the rectors seem
to have lived eventful lives. Philip Ewyas was sued for the detention of
an ox. Robert de Crouton was indicted for killing an inhabitant of
Barnston, and John Whitmore of Thurstaston was bound in 100 marks to
keep the peace towards Sir John Bennett in 1492. Thomas Sharpe appears
to have been the incumbent for fifty-nine years, and this is
substantiated by other sources. He died in about 1601 aged 91.The rector
and churchwardens were again involved in controversy in 1671 as the
records testify.
Over the
door is a painting of the
arms of Queen Anne bearing the motto: 'Semper
Eadem’. Around the West end of the Church are a number of white marble
tablets commemorating certain of the families of the Whitmores who for
centuries lived at Thurstaston, and of the Gleggs who feature
prominently in Cheshire history. It would appear from the dates that
these tablets were taken from the original church together with a bread
shelf dated 1723.
In the
churchyard, the oldest inscription consists of a flat stone, south of
the old tower marking the grave of John Whitmore and his wife Eleanor
but so eroded that only some of the letters are discernible. The wills
supply the illegible dates - 1672 and 1688. Nearby is an altar tomb
supported by six pillars, the clear inscription mentioning Ann Hughes
with the date 1688. Another flat stone inside the old church marks the
grave of one of the Rectors, Robert Bradshaw 1689.
It is
interesting to reflect how the parish has changed through time.
Thurstaston was not an independent parish until it was probably cut out
of West Kirby and Woodchurch at about the end of the 12th century. Only
a small part of what is today Irby was included in the parish, and a
large church was formerly never needed as can be seen from the census of
1810 when it was recorded that the population of Thurstaston and Irby
together was a mere 173. With the growing importance of Liverpool and
Birkenhead as a trade centre and the resulting outward spread of the
towns, the number of inhabitants had risen to 272 in 1871.
The
population of the parish in 1951 was 717. From then on the story is
complicated by the alteration of the parish boundary to take in almost
the whole of Irby, now a considerable residential area separated from
Thurstaston by only a few fields. As a result the population of the
parish in 1961 was 3,725. This enormous increase obviously meant that
the parish needed another church. So it was that in 1967, from the
contributions of parishioners, a combined Parish Hall and Church
was built in Irby and dedicated to St. Chad.
With four
buildings in the parish's 900 years of recorded history, the modern
chapel in Irby built for the needs of a changing world, and the quiet
church in Thurstaston with its elegant charm of a past age, make the
parish perhaps symbolic of the Church's need to adapt in these days of
change; to welcome the best of the new, whilst keeping the best of the
old. |
