The Parish of St Peter, Liverpool in the County of -- Lancashire --

St Peter’s Church, Church St, Liverpool
1704 - 1919

	St Peter’s Church, Church St., Liverpool

In 1654, the first resolution was made towards making Liverpool a parish separate from Walton.

In 1699, Parliament sanctioned that Liverpool be made a separate District Parish from Walton, and £400 were to be raised towards building a new church; to be dedicated to St. Peter. John Moffat, the architect, saw the first stone of St. Peter’s Church laid, and the entire cost when finished was £4000. St Peter’s was the first parish after the reformation; on 29 June 1704, St. Peter’s was consecrated.

In 1767, it was ordered that the town be divided into 5 wards, to be named St. Nicholas, St. George, St. Peter, St. Thomas and St. John.

On 10 September, 1831, St. Peter’s church clock was lighted with gas.

On January 27, 1868, the removal of bodies from part of St. Peter’s chuch yard commenced. About 200 bodies were moved, some of the coffins bearing dates of 1707. The graveyard itself was first opened in 1704. The bodies were all removed with the utmost decency and propriety, and were re-interred in Anfield Cemetery.

The memorial service after the funeral of her late Majesty Queen Victoria was held at St. Peter’s on April 21, 1901. This fully choral mass was read by the Reverand H. Clarke, while the Bishop of Liverpool announced benediction. This was the largest memorial service ever seen by the people of Liverpool.

Baptisms were held at the church from 1704-1919, marriages from 1804 - 1919 and burials from 1704 - 1853. The last service took place in September of 1919, and the church was demolished in 1922. A brass maltese cross is now embedded in the location of the former church on Church Street.