Crescent Congregational Chapel

[Hambleton96]

I am writing a short piece about Crescent Congregational Chapel, Everton Brow 1850-1900 as my 3xg grandmother Ellen Bennett worshipped there for decades. Does anyone have any connection with it at all? I know it's now demolished. Some of the elders were Messrs Stitt, Blackburn, While, Heyworth (the main benefactor for the chapel's construction), Samuel Lockhart, Rev John Kelly. They also ran a school I think and certainly Sunday schools but as I am not in Liverpool I can't doublecheck in the records office just yet.

[Bertieone]

Can't offer much help, a snippet from the Liverpool Mercury, September, 1878, mentions adjoining schools.

[Blue70]

c1891





Blue

[Blue70]

I'm a bit confused about the location or locations of Crescent Chapel School. Gore's Directory 1853 has it listed between 12 and 14 William Henry Street. This map has it further along where there was later a board school:-

http://maps.nls.uk/view/102344096#zoom= ... &layers=BT

Information about it also here:-

http://www.liverpool-schools.co.uk/html/a_-_c.html


Other information:-

Kelly’s Directory 1894/Places of Worship/Congregational

Everton Brow crescent ; 10.45 a.m. & 6.30 p.m. ; wed. 7.30 p.m.



Blue

[Katie]

I'm sure there are some records for this Church. They are in the Merseyside Record Office Collection.

During WW1 they produced a newsletter which was sent to the old boys of the Crescent Sunday School the editor was James Moir. It was on Everton Brow.

[MaryA]

There appears to be a variety of records if you enter "Crescent Congregational Chapel" into the catalogue http://archive.liverpool.gov.uk/calmview/ including sketches, seems to agree with the location of Everton Brow.

[daggers]

The 2001 book 'Churches of Liverpool' by David Lewis has this on page 123, with no illustration:
'This elegant neoclassical chapel was built in 1835 by a Congregationalist group from Bethesda Chapel and was designed by Joseph Franklin, who also designed Pembroke Chapel and the first Lime Street Station. It stood on Everton Brow, near the junction with Shaw Street. "The building is large and commodious" wrote James Picton. "The front to Everton Brow has a recesssed portico in the centre, with fluted Ionic columns in antis, surmounted by a pedimented gable." The congregation was an important one in this area, and was responsible for a number of daughter churches, including Norwood Chapel and Edge Hill Congregational Church. The chapel was sold to the Franciscan Friars in 1937 for use as a parish hall, but no trace of the building remains today.'
[There is no reference to the chapel's school.]

Daggers

[Hambleton96]

Thank you all very much for your help. I will post again tomorrow when I have had time to digest

[Hambleton96]

Thanks again for Crescent Chapel information. I am interested in how Ellen Bennett and two small children would have got to chapel on a Sunday? The period is about 1850-1870, during which they were living in the Russell Street area, then Stafford Street. Would they have walked or used a form of transport I am wondering? I will certainly have to go and look at the church records, which I see are in the Lancashire archives for some reason, not in Liverpool.

[Blue70]

Thanks again for Crescent Chapel information. I am interested in how Ellen Bennett and two small children would have got to chapel on a Sunday? The period is about 1850-1870, during which they were living in the Russell Street area, then Stafford Street. Would they have walked or used a form of transport I am wondering? I will certainly have to go and look at the church records, which I see are in the Lancashire archives for some reason, not in Liverpool.

Both these locations are within walking distance. You could contact the Liverpool Record Office to find out if they have any records for the chapel using the page linked below:-

http://liverpool.gov.uk/contact-us/serv ... rd-office/


Blue

[Hambleton96]

Walking from Russell Street to Everton Brow definitely seems possible mid 19th century. Would there have been any real alternatives to walking at that time? I'm not sure when trams came in, and would there have been horse-drawn transport, if so what, I wonder?

[Blue70]

There were horse drawn cars or carriages. The wealthy would travel around that way but I wouldn't have thought them necessary for most people. People were used to walking long distances so journeys around the town and between the town and Walton, Kirkdale, Everton, Toxteth etc would have been made on foot. There's a "car" in this mid 19th century photo:-

http://streetsofliverpool.co.uk/the-old ... liverpool/


Blue

[Hambleton96]

Thanks for the link to the old photographs site and the early photograph dated c 1851. That is the exact period I am writing about, so it is helpful to see the horse-drawn car. As you say, people walked distances in those days, not a lot of choice.