St Benet's RC Chapel, Merseyside

Netherton, Merseyside | Listed Grade II*

History and Architecture






St Benet's Chapel was opened in 1793 and is thus a rare, important example of an early post-Reformation Catholic church. Although the chapel was erected after the Catholic Relief Acts of 1778 and 1791 when Catholics were allowed to worship openly, a measure of concealment was still considered wise and from the road only the presbytery (priest's house) is visible. The chapel and presbytery form an integrated building.

Some of the interior furnishings have been removed but important items survive including the gallery, the early 19th-century altar and a "pilastered and pedimented altarpiece which has winged cherub heads, a gloria of rays and Adamesque urns and garlands of the type that many churches of the Establishment could boast before the zealous efforts of 'ecclesiological' restorers" (Bryan Little).

 

Repair and Regeneration

HCT has repaired the chapel externally, together with its presbytery. The final phases of work will complete repairs, then reinstate furnishings using the evidence of old photographs. The chapel will be presented so that the layout which predated the Second Vatican Council of 1962 and survived until the 1970s, can be fully appreciated.

A further phase of structural repairs to the chapel commenced in January 2011 and was completed in Autumn 2011. The presbytery was repaired in 2004. It is providing a residence for retired priests.