MODERN PARISH CHURCHES
All Saints, Hoole
A mission room was opened in Hoole in 1855, when it
was still within the district of Christ Church. (fn. 1) After the
building of a new church there in 1867 the area was
served by a curate, maintained by congregational
offerings, pew rents, and a small stipend from the
incumbent of Christ Church. (fn. 2) The new church was
consecrated in 1871, and a district comprising Hoole
township was taken from Christ Church parish and
assigned to it in 1872. (fn. 3) It became a fully independent
parish served by a vicar in 1880. (fn. 4) The parish was
extended east to the Chester bypass in 1989. (fn. 5)
The advowson was initially vested in a board of
trustees composed of the incumbent of Christ Church,
the 2nd marquess of Westminster, and local gentlemen, (fn. 6) but by 1900 had passed to the Simeon Trustees,
with whom it remained in 2000. (fn. 7) The benefice's
income came largely from endowments provided in
1872 and 1884. (fn. 8) A vicarage house south of the church
was built in 1885–6. (fn. 9)
From the first All Saints was of a Low Church or
Evangelical persuasion and the principal Sunday services were always morning and evening prayer. (fn. 10)
Building
The church of All Saints was built of stone in 1867 to
designs by Samuel Dawkes, (fn. 11) and was enlarged with a
south aisle and vestry in 1911–12 by J. Walley to
designs by the late John Douglas. (fn. 12) As completed it
consisted of a chancel with north organ chamber, aisled
nave of five bays, south vestry, north porch, and southwest tower with spire. The detail of mouldings
throughout is in the Decorated style.
Christ Church, Newtown
The church was opened in 1838, and in 1843 a
district was assigned to it, covering the northern
suburbs of Chester and formed from parts of the
parishes of St. Oswald, St. John the Baptist, and
Plemstall. (fn. 13) Reduced in size by the creation of a
separate district for Hoole in 1872, it became an
independent parish in 1879. (fn. 14) Thereafter the incumbents, originally styled perpetual curates, were known
as vicars. (fn. 15) The benefice, whose patron was the bishop,
was incorporated in the new parish of Chester in
1972, the church remaining in use. (fn. 16) The yearly value
of the living rose from £150 in 1858 to £252 by
1874. (fn. 17) The Ecclesiastical Commissioners made grants
towards providing a parsonage house in 1864 and
1881, and a house was built by 1887. (fn. 18)
Throughout the 19th century incumbents had the
assistance of stipendiary curates. (fn. 19) In the 1870s Christ
Church had between 25 and 40 communicants at the
monthly eucharist and more at Easter. (fn. 20) By 1900 a
weekly early celebration had been introduced at
which communicants still numbered c. 20–40; Easter
communicants, however, had risen steeply to over 400
and rose further to 640 in 1909. (fn. 21)
At about the same time the work of the church was
extended into other parts of the populous and largely
working-class parish. In 1895 the Revd. J. F. Howson
bought a disused chapel in Back Brook Street from the
pastor of one of the Welsh-speaking Congregationalist
churches, Ezra Johnson, who had moved his flock to
better premises the previous year. Around 1905 it was
known as the mission church of the Atonement and
provided a Sunday school and Sunday evensong, and
c. 1930 evening services on three weekdays as well.
Services were probably discontinued in 1934 or 1935,
and the vicar let the building for other purposes from
1936. It was apparently demolished c. 1960. (fn. 22)
Howson also built the corrugated-iron St. Luke's
mission church on land next to the vicarage house in
Brook Lane, beginning services there in 1899. In 1905
the vicar or one of the two curates held morning
service every Sunday and communion twice a month
and on Thursdays in the summer. Services continued
at St. Luke's until 1969, and the building was removed
after 1971. (fn. 23)
At Christ Church itself a weekly, early morning, sung
eucharist had been introduced by the 1930s, and under
C. F. Leeper (vicar 1947–53) it replaced matins as the
principal morning service. (fn. 24)
Building
As first built in 1838, to designs by Thomas Jones,
Christ Church comprised chancel, transepts, and aisleless nave. (fn. 25) In 2000 it consisted of a chancel with south
chapel and north vestry, and an aisled nave with porch,
the chancel and its chapel being of ashlar and the
remainder of red brick with stone dressings. John
Douglas was brought in as consultant in 1869, and
the enlargement of the chancel dates to then or 1876.
In 1893, to Douglas's revised designs in an Early
Pointed style, the chancel was extended to the east,
and between 1897 and 1900 he rebuilt the nave. (fn. 26) The
porch was added in 1936. (fn. 27) The church contains a
notable assemblage of Arts and Crafts fittings and glass,
mostly by Douglas, Sir Charles Nicholson, and C. E.
Kempe. (fn. 28)
Holy Ascension, Upton
In 1853 the rector of St. Mary's issued an appeal for
funds to build a church in Upton to serve the large
detached portion of his parish north of the city. The
marquess of Westminster offered £1,000 as an endowment and £1,000 towards the building, and the church
was consecrated as a chapel of ease to St. Mary's in
1854. The clergy were initially appointed by the rector
of St. Mary's and held two Sunday services, administering communion monthly to 20 or 30 people in the
1860s. In 1882 Upton became an independent parish,
with the patronage in the hands of the patron of St.
Mary's, the duke of Westminster, (fn. 29) with whose descendants it remained in 2000. (fn. 30)
Building
The church of the Holy Ascension was built to designs
by James Harrison based on the medieval work surviving and conjectured at Aldford. As originally built it
consisted of a chancel with north vestry and organ
chamber, nave with south porch, and tower with spire,
all in the Decorated style of Aldford. A south transept
and vestries were added in 1958 and a north transept in
1967, making the church cruciform. (fn. 31)
Holy Trinity without the Walls, Blacon
The replacement for the medieval parish church of
Holy Trinity (above, pp. 133–6).
St. Mark, Saltney
A chapelry known as Lache cum Saltney was formed in
1855 from the western part of St. Mary on the Hill
parish within the liberties, the township of Marlston
cum Lache (also previously in St. Mary's), and part of
Saltney (previously in Hawarden parish, Flints.). It was
extended eastward to Selkirk Road in 1923. The bishop
of Chester was patron. (fn. 32) Services had been held in a
barn at Corporation Farm, Saltneyside, since 1851, and
in 1853 the marquess of Westminster gave a site for a
church at Lache Eyes. (fn. 33) The church of the Holy
Epiphany at Lache Eyes remained in use until 1893,
when a new building, dedicated to St. Mark, opened in
Hough Green. (fn. 34) Services were also held in a school at
Mold Junction (in Saltney, Flints.) from 1891, and in
1911 a mission church dedicated to St. Matthew was
opened near by in the hamlet of Saltney Ferry (Flints.).
In the 1990s St. Mark's and St. Matthew's both
remained in use and services were also held by the
parish's team of incumbent and two curates at a 'family
church' in Sandy Lane. (fn. 35)
Buildings
The parish church of St. Mark was designed by T. M.
Lockwood in a 13th-century style. Of red Ruabon brick
with a roof of Westmorland slate, it comprises a
chancel with north vestry and south chapel, and a
nave with north porch and south organ chamber.
The mission church of St. Matthew, Saltney Ferry, is
of red Ruabon brick with a slate roof and consists of a
chancel with south vestry, and a nave with western
baptistery.
St. Mary without the Walls,
Handbridge
The replacement for the medieval parish church of St.
Mary on the Hill (above, pp. 142–6).
St. Michael, Plas Newton
A church hall within the parish of All Saints, Hoole,
opened in Devon Road, Newton, in 1965 and was used
for evening services. It was rebuilt as a church with
attached meeting rooms in 1982, when a parish was
formed for it from all that part of All Saints north of
the railway line, and a vicar was appointed. The patron,
as at All Saints, was the Simeon Trustees. Services were
Evangelical from the start and in 1996 the parish had a
number of house-church groups. St. Michael's is a
plain building of yellow brick, the church being
simply a large rectangular room. (fn. 36)
St. Paul, Boughton
The church was opened in 1830 as a chapel of ease to
St. John's. (fn. 37) In 1846 a district was assigned to it, formed
from Great Boughton township in St. Oswald's parish,
the extra-parochial place of Spital Boughton, and a
section of St. John's parish bounded by the canal,
Steven Street, and the river. (fn. 38) The district became a
parish in 1879, when its boundaries were extended at
the expense of St. John's. (fn. 39) Its boundaries were altered
in 1973, when territory was exchanged with Christleton
and acquired from Bruera. (fn. 40) The vicar of St. John's
remained patron until 1972, when the advowson was
vested in the rector of the new united benefice of
Chester. (fn. 41)
The curate's annual income, originally derived
largely from pew rents, was c. £80 in 1831 but had
risen to £150 by 1860. (fn. 42) The vicar continued to receive
income from pew rents until 1915 or later. (fn. 43)
Congregations in 1851 averaged 330 on Sunday
morning and 350 in the evening. (fn. 44) Incumbents were
assisted by stipendiary curates throughout the 19th
century and a mission church operated in Hoole Lane
from 1887 to 1933 in a corrugated-iron and weatherboarded building still standing in 1996. (fn. 45) At St. Paul's
an early celebration of holy communion every Sunday
had been introduced by the 1870s, and by 1933 there
was a weekly sung eucharist. (fn. 46) The sung celebration,
which was made monthly in 1957, had again become
the principal Sunday service by the 1970s. (fn. 47)
Building
The church of St. Paul, which is of brick and timber
in John Douglas's distinctive local revival style,
comprises an aisled nave terminating in a wide
apse, a south-west baptistery, and an outer south
aisle, added later. (fn. 48) The first church, which was built
in 1830, was of stuccoed brick in an Italianate style
with round-headed windows and a north-west campanile. The architect was William Cole the younger. (fn. 49)
In 1876 the church was virtually rebuilt to the designs
of John Douglas. The exterior was refaced, lancet and
plate tracery windows were inserted, and an elaborate
open timber roof topped by a spirelet was made.
Inside there are timber arcades. (fn. 50) In 1900 a south
aisle, designed by Douglas and Minshull, was added. (fn. 51)
In the 1930s it was furnished as a side chapel. (fn. 52) The
church contains notable glass by C. E. Kempe,
Edward Frampton, and especially Morris and Co.,
all dating from between 1881 and 1925. (fn. 53)
St. Thomas, Parkgate Road
The replacement for the medieval parish church of St.
Oswald (above, pp. 149–53).