Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Hi,
I am reasearching a gentleman called the Reverend William MacGregor who was vicar of the above church in the 1870s. He remained in the post for 4 years (He originally came from Everton).
I am struggling to find much information about his time there and am also eager to know what kind of area it was at that time (ie what kind of congregation would he have had).
If anyone can suggest info/sources etc, I would be really gratefully.
Thanks.

Hi HistoryHound,

If you have a look on this website, you will see William is named as the -incumbent on some of the marriages that took place in St Matthias in the 1870's

http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Liverpool/Liv ... index.html

Jan

"The Churches of Liverpool" by David Lewis says that the original church was built in a simple Classical style, opening in 1834, at the corner of Chadwick Street and Love Lane. It is said to have resembled the former Baptist Chapel on Shaw Street, which survives, though I think now in secular use.
In 1848 a new site between Porter Street and Vulcan Street was found, to allow for the building of the main station for the L&Y Railway. The new church was designed by the well-known Arthur Hill Holme, ' a neat Gothic structure...built in red stone with a tower and spire'. It survived WW2 but was damaged by enemy action and demolished in 1948.
The church is shown on the Alan Godfrey reprint of the 1906 OS map - Liverpool (North), sheet Lancs 106.10. Judging by the map, the area was full of mills, factories and railway viaducts, and the housing likely to be terraces of small houses. Many of the occupants would be dock workers or in related trades. The description of the area included in the reprint, says that by 1908 'the environment was unsavoury'.
Great Howard Street was a main thoroughfare, and at the same period had about 30 pubs.
Lewis's book has no photo of the church, which probably means that none has survived, as he includes many obscure illustrations.

I think he did well to survive four years!
D

Here is a map of the area.

http://www.liverpoolhistoryprojects.co. ... km1013.htm

Jan

A lot of people in those streets around that part of Great Howard Street would have attended St Augustine's RC Church on the corner of Great Howard Street and Chadwick Street. There was a large Irish Roman Catholic community in this part of the city. There would also be a lot of newcomers to the city and people on their way to America living in the area.

Most of the men around there would have been dock labourers. My Grandad's family came from this area and there was a lot of early deaths in the family probably due to it being a very industrialised environment. There were a lot of warehouses and industrial works in the area. The people mostly lived in poor housing such as court dwellings.

There isn't much in the way of resources of information about the history of the area. This site below about the RC parish will give you some information about this community:-

http://www.scottiepress.org/gallery/staugus.htm


Blue

Thanks for the posts and info...I really appreciate the help!

St Matthias also appears on the larger scale map, Liverpool Sheet 18, Great Howard Street 1864, Godfrey Edition.
The area was surveyed in 1848 (with railways and houses added 1864). The church appears as 'New Church' at Vulcan St/Gt. Howard St junction.

Thanks Marky

I visited the site of this church on Great Howard Street the other week on my history walk. There's a petrol station on the site you can see it on Google. I did "the hill" walked from the Dock Road to St George's Church

Blue