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St George, Everton

Liverpool, St George, Everton

"St George was built 1813-14. This was the first of three churches erected by John Cragg, employing cast-iron parts manufactured at his Mersey Iron Foundry (the others were St Philip and St Michael-in-the-Hamlet). Cragg had been planning a church for Toxteth Park. J.M. Gandy produced designs in 1809, and in 1812 Cragg met Thomas Rickman and had him make new drawings. Then the opportunity to build in Everton arose, and the church went ahead on the present site. It is impossible to disentangle Cragg, Gandy and Rickman's contributions. Some cast-iron elements shown in Gandy's drawings are very closeGlossary Term to the executed building, but these could have been designed by Cragg before Gandy's involvement. Certainly Cragg had already cast some components before Rickman appeared on the scene.

The exterior is largely of stone, the style Perp. High W tower with pierced battlements (original?). Large Perp three-lightGlossary Term windows along the sides, with cast-iron traceryGlossary Term. The buttresses between had cast-iron pinnacles, now removed. Six-lightGlossary Term E window in short embattledGlossary Term chancelGlossary Term. The galleried interior is a delightful surprise, extraordinarily lightGlossary Term and delicate due to the use of cast ironGlossary Term throughout. Slender clustered columns divide naveGlossary Term from aisles. Traceried arches span between the columns to support the naveGlossary Term ceiling, and between the columns and the outer wall to carry the flat ceilings over the aisles (the tie-rods are a 20th century insertion). Further traceried arches support the galleries, which cut across the windows. The ceilings are of slate slabs slotted between the cast-iron raftersGlossary Term, with cast-iron traceryGlossary Term on the underside. Thicker slabs of slate attached to the upper edge of the raftersGlossary Term form the roof - a system patented by Cragg in 1809. Monuments. Under the tower, John Rackham, d. 1815, a tablet with an ambitious Dec GothicGlossary Term surround, designed by Rickman and carved by S. & J. Franceys. - In the S galleryGlossary Term, Thomas W. Wainwright (a surgeon), d. 1841, with a relief of the Good Samaritan by W. Spence. - In the N galleryGlossary Term, Walter Fergus MacGregor, d. 1863, an elaborate GothicGlossary Term tabernacleGlossary Term incorporating a portrait roundel, by E.E. Geflowski. - Stained glass mostly destroyed in the war. The third window on the N is the only complete survivor, 1863, by A. Gibbs. E window 1952, by Shrigley & Hunt."