Church of St Teresa of Avila, Birkdale

The Church of St Teresa of Avila stands in Everton Road, Birkdale, a quiet part of Southport within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton. Built in 1897–98, it is an active Roman Catholic church in the diocese of Liverpool. The architects were James Sinnott, Bernard Sinnott and Daniel Powell, who formed a partnership for the project. The church and its attached presbytery are Grade II listed, recognised as nationally important. The building combines red brick with red sandstone and buff terracotta dressings, topped with a slate roof. The church’s Early English style is clear in its cruciform plan, with a narrow nave opening into full-height aisles and short transepts. A flèche rises over the crossing, and a bellcote sits on the north transept gable. The west end features two lancet windows beneath a rose window, crowned by a cross. Inside, cylindrical sandstone piers support two-bay arcades with foliage-carved capitals. The high altar and reredos display angels and the words “Ecce Panis Angelorum.” The interior holds stained glass by Earley and Company showing English martyrs and saints, and windows by Hardman elsewhere. A two-manual pipe organ from Ainscough of Preston dates to about 1910. The attached presbytery, in brick with a hipped slate roof, has a square plan and a lean-to porch. Its west front includes a canted bay window and mullioned windows, with dormers and a cruciform chimney stack on the roof.