Church of St Luke, Liverpool

St Luke’s Church stands on the corner of Berry Street and Leece Street, at the top of Bold Street in Liverpool. Built between 1811 and 1832 by father-and-son architects John Foster, Sr. and John Foster, Jr., it served as both a parish church and a concert hall for the city corporation. The site was donated in 1791 by Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby, with the condition it remain a church. Known locally as the bombed-out church, it was struck by incendiary bombs during the Liverpool Blitz in May 1941, leaving only a roofless shell. The structure and its surrounding walls and gates are Grade II* listed, recognised for their national importance. The church is a memorial to those who died in the Second World War, maintained as it was left after the bombing. Since 2014, the community group Bombed Out Church has organised exhibitions, performances and creative events in the grounds. It also supports the parish of St Luke-in-the-City, which includes several local churches and an LGBTQIA+ fresh expression. The site’s history reflects Liverpool’s role in wartime resilience and post-war remembrance. Its surviving features include the cast iron bell frame, the first of its kind in the world, and fragments of stained glass. Visitors find a five-bay nave and four-bay chancel with an apsidal end, framed by ashlar sandstone walls in Perpendicular style. The west tower has three stages, with traceried windows and a battlemented parapet. The surrounding garden, laid out in 1885, is enclosed by cast iron railings on sandstone plinths and features two memorials. One commemorates victims of the Irish Famine, opened in 1998 by the President of Ireland, and the other marks the 1914 Christmas truce with a sculpture of soldiers playing football. Steps lead down from the garden to the surrounding streets, offering views of the roofless church against the city skyline.