The Parish of St Mary The Virgin (West Derby Chapel), West Derby in the County of -- Lancashire --

West Derby Chapel, later St. Mary, West Derby

	St. Mary, West Derby

Below is an extract from the records in the Liverpool Central Library

The first reference to a chapel in West Derby occurs in 1361. About a century later there is mention of its reparation, and in 1494 Henry VII allowed five marks out of the issues of the manor towards the maintenance of a chapel. In the following centuries its history is obscure, but in 1650 the Surveyors of the Commonwealth found "a godly minister" supplying the cure. The Surveyors also recommended that it should be made the parish church. Parts of the chapel seemed to have been repaired at various times and the whole chapel was rebuilt in 1792.

In 1843 An Act for the Division of the Rectory of Walton on the Hill in the County of Palatine of Lancaster, and for authorizing Sales and Conveyances in Fee, or Leases for long Terms of Years, for Building Purposes, and other Dispositions to be made of the Lands and Revenues belonging to the said Rectory and to the Vicarage of Walton on the Hill, for the Endowment of such separate Rectories and the Augmentation of such Vicarage (6 & 7 Vic., cap. 16) provided for the creation of a separate parish of West Derby and for a parish church to be built there. The new church was built between 1853 and 1856 and the chapel was then demolished. The new church, dedicated to St. Mary was consecrated on 6 November 1856.

A brief outline of the history of West Derby Chapel appears in the Victoria History of the County of Lancaster, vol. 3, 1967 pp 17 - 18. The registers to 1837 have been transcribed and printed by the Lancashire Parish Register Society V. 110, 1971

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