Campaigners need £2.5m to save rare cast iron church

A campaign has been launched to raise £2.5m to save a rare 19th Century Liverpool church described as the "beating heart of the community".

St Michael-in-the-Hamlet parish church is Grade I-listed, meaning specialist builders and architects must be hired to make improvements or repairs.

The church was built and designed by foundry owner John Cragg in 1815, and its listing citation describes it as "one of the earliest and most thorough uses of industrial materials in a major building".

The church, which has also hosted concerts including a show by Paul Weller in 2023, has until 3 August to submit an application to the National Heritage Lottery Fund to carry out essential repairs.

The church is one of only two in the country built from a cast iron structure, the other being St George's in Everton.

Heritage campaigners, including the Merseyside Civic Society and Save Britain's Heritage, have been recruited to lobby in support of the funding application.

Vicar Keith Hitchman described applying to the fund as a "rigorous process" and said the church had already had close to a £1m in grants.

"It's a beautiful building," he said.

"It's a church that's been worshipped in for more than 200 years - It's a strong community church, its connected to the school, it's the spiritual centre.

"I suppose some of the paint peeling and wear and tear give it a bit of its character, but some people come in and berate us for the state of it.

"But because it's Grade I-listed, we can't touch it. It's not just a case of getting in a local builder, we have to get specialist builders, specialist architects and we have to raise a serious amount of money."

Asked what would happen if the church failed to get funding from the National Heritage Lottery Fund, he added: "I'm a person of faith.

"One way or another, we're going to save this building."

Anne Bush, from the St Michael's 1815 Heritage Association said the left hand side of the church, the roof and part of the tower had all been supported with about £800,000 of heritage lottery funding.

She said: "When Heritage Lottery Fund first became involved, they always knew it would be a long-term project.

"By committing to those first phases there was always an expectation on our part, that we'd be able to carry on. So for us this would be the final phase."

St Michael's ward councillor Tom Crone said the church was the "beating heart of the community".

"It's got environmental projects, it's got beehives in the graveyard," he said.

"And who'd have thought an Anglican church having some of the best concerts in Liverpool?"

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