Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Birkenhead

The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception stands in Cavendish Street, Birkenhead, on the Wirral peninsula. It is an active Roman Catholic church in the diocese of Shrewsbury and holds Grade II listed status. The building was designed by E. W. Pugin and completed between 1860 and 1862. A later addition, the chancel, was added in 1876–77 by Pugin and Pugin. Plans for a steeple were never realised, and wartime bombing in 1941 damaged the east end and destroyed the presbytery. The church is built of stone with Welsh slate roofs and follows a traditional plan. It features a nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, confessionals, a porch, an apsidal chancel with vestries, and a small tower. The west end displays a carved rose in a quatrefoil above paired entrances, with a large rose window above. Triple lancet windows line the aisles, separated by buttresses, while the clerestory has single lancets. The tower rises only to the eaves and includes a niche with a statue of Mary. Inside, the reredos of 1895 was designed by Pugin and Pugin. The apse has two stages of blind arcading and paintings by Hardman & Co., which were damaged during the war. The church’s interior reflects careful craftsmanship, with painted and carved details throughout. The surviving features, despite wartime damage, show the original vision of the architects. The building remains a place of worship and local heritage.