St Anne's Church, Edge Hill

St Anne’s Church stands in Overbury Street, Edge Hill, a quiet part of Liverpool. Built between 1843 and 1846, it is an active Roman Catholic parish church in the Archdiocese of Liverpool. The monks of Downside Abbey first cared for the church before responsibility passed to Ampleforth Abbey. In 1950 it became part of the Archdiocese of Liverpool, and its parish was later combined with that of St Bernard’s. The building is listed at Grade II on the National Heritage List for England. The church is worth visiting for its fine architecture and craftsmanship. Charles Hansom designed the original building, and later enlargements were carried out by Pugin and Pugin and by Peter Paul Pugin. The interior was reordered in 1969, removing the baldacchino and altar rails and installing a new altar. The churchyard contains a Grade II listed memorial to the Linford family, designed by A. Murphy. Attached to the northwest is a large presbytery, also Grade II listed, built in 1893 by Peter Paul Pugin. Visitors find a red sandstone church in early Decorated style, with a slate roof and a prominent west tower. The nave has six bays, north and south aisles, transepts, and a three-bay apsidal chancel. Inside, quatrefoil columns carry the arcades, and a three-manual pipe organ by Henry Willis and Sons stands in the loft. The churchyard holds the Linford memorial with sculpted figures of the Virgin Mary and St John. The presbytery, attached to the northwest, completes the group of Grade II listed buildings.