English Martyrs' Church, Wallasey

English Martyrs’ Church stands on St George’s Road in Wallasey, Wirral. It is an active Roman Catholic church in the diocese of Shrewsbury and holds Grade II* listed status on the National Heritage List for England. The building began as an iron church in 1907 before plans by F. X. Velarde were realised between 1952 and 1953. The main contractor was Tyson’s, and the completed church cost £50,000. Its exterior mixes brown brick with cast-stone details in a Neo-Romanese style. The church faces north-south, with a single roof over nave and sanctuary, narrow aisles, and a curved apse at the east end. The church is admired for Velarde’s post-war design and its powerful religious atmosphere. English Martyrs’ is regarded as one of his finest post-war churches by Pevsner and Pollard. The exterior features statues of English Martyrs by Philip Lindsey Clark, a campanile with a Pietà, and a lantern topped by a copper roof. Inside, the brick walls remain bare, while concrete columns carry seven-bay arcades with silver spiral bands and crowned capitals. The nave roof is wooden, painted mainly in orange and cream with zig-zag patterns. Visitors find a spacious interior with Stations of the Cross in silver relief along the aisles. The high altar stands on an oval base with a silver angel relief, and the apse holds a pyramidal reredos showing the Twelve Apostles and Christ. The Lady Chapel contains an altar with a statue of the Virgin Mary and St John Fisher by Herbert Tyson Smith. The baptistry features a stone font with a pyramidal cover and a painted roof in orange, blue and white. The church’s round windows, flying buttresses and gabled porches complete the striking architectural ensemble.