St. Mary's, parish church for Bootle, was consecrated in July 1827 and its first incumbent was a member of the Gladstone family. The 'substantial Church' was built at the expense of the '...eccentric but capable' William Spurstow Miller, described in the Directories as an Attorney of Bootle, who had also built himself a castellated house on the Bootle Shore, known as 'Millers Castle' subsequently demolished to make way for dock expansion.

St. Mary's Church and churchyard were situated on Church Street, at an angle between the present Strand Road and Irlam Road, leading into Merton Road, not far from that part of the shore on which Alexandra Dock opened in 1881. The church was built with town towers, possibly as a navigational aid for shipping approaching the Mersey, but these were replaced at a later date with a spire. Early in the Second World War this spire was seriously damaged when the trailing cable from a barrage balloon became wound around it and the top of the spire dropped through the church roof.

In 1940 St. Mary's was wrecked '...by enemy bombs and the resultant fires'. The congregation continued to worship in temporary accommodation and on the 20th March 1949 the Bishop of Liverpool dedicated the '..austerity parish church, the new St. Mary's, Derby Road, Bootle'. The congregation subsequently moved again to premises dedicated in 1981 and the parish is now united with that of the former parish of St. Paul's, North Shore, (St. Paul's, Kirkdale) to form the parish of St. Mary with St. Paul, Bootle.

The interments were removed to Bootle Cemetery and the land turned in to a park with some of the gravestones remaining, though none in situ. Sadly some gravestones are propped up against the wall, the other side of this wall being Bootle tip.

Almost in F - Tranquillity by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

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