The Parish of St Cleopas, Toxteth in the County of -- Lancashire --

St. Cleopas' Church, Mill Street, Toxteth
1866 to 1973

	St Cleopas mission, photograph courtesy of Paul Christian at Toxteth.net

By the late 1850s, Toxteth was becoming rapidly built up, and there was a need for a new parish to cater for the increasing population. A piece of land called the Brickfields (formally Barn Hey) was purchased by a group of men from the Earl of Sefton, who also gave part of it as a gift, together with £50 towards the expenses. The foundation stone was laid on 21st Sep 1865 and the church was consecrated on 5th October 1866. On 26th February 1867 Queen Victoria assigned the church as a District Chapelry and set its boundaries. These extended from the middle of the river, up Northumberland Street, along Mill Street, around the Church walls and then down Beresford Road to the river.

Day schools were opened in December 1871 and by 1876 the population of the parish had so increased that a licence was given to hold divine service in St. Mary's Mission School in Mill Street, where, 2 years later, a corrugated iron church was opened. In 1884 St. Cleopas was created 'A new Parish and Vicarage' and on 18th October 1884 the iron church was consecrated, not as St. Mary's, but as St. Gabriel's.

St. Cleopas, as the parish boundaries extended, built a mission church in 1888, which was, in fact, the original parish church of Woolton, and was in South Hill Road. For many years this mission church was to work alongside the Mother Church.

A more detailed version of the history of the church from 1865 up to 1962 is also available at Toxteth.net

Source

Records and History courtesy of Liverpool Record Office, Liverpool Libraries
Visit Liverpool Libraries online catalogues at http://archive.liverpool.gov.uk