Holy Trinity Church, Wavertree

Holy Trinity Church stands in Church Road, Wavertree, a district of Liverpool. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Liverpool, the archdeaconry of Liverpool, and the deanery of Toxteth and Wavertree. The building is listed at Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England. John Betjeman called it Liverpool’s best Georgian church. It was designed by John Hope and built in 1794 as a chapel of ease to All Saints’ Church in Childwall. The church became a separate parish in 1867. In 1911 Charles Reilly rebuilt the east end, added a bay and an apse, and removed the north and south galleries. He created a baptistery at the base of the tower. In the 1950s the tower’s upper parts were removed because they were unstable. Serious fires in 1961 and 1971 led to further restorations. The pipe organ was installed in 1972 by J. W. Walker. Inside, the church has a west gallery supported by quatrefoil iron columns. The nave ceiling is flat with a central rose, and the apse is vaulted. The chancel contains pilasters, a vestry, and an organ chamber. The marble font has a shallow bowl, the pulpit is square and panelled, and the lectern’s shaft is a fluted Greek Doric column. In the churchyard stands a war memorial designed by H. Tyson Smith, flanked by classical female figures and topped with a cross. The memorial commemorates 28 war graves from the two world wars.