St Bridget's Church, West Kirby

St Bridget’s Church stands in the small seaside town of West Kirby on the Wirral peninsula. It is an active Anglican church built mainly of local sandstone under a slate roof. The building has a west tower, a nave with north and south aisles, a chancel that leans northward, a north chapel and a vestry. The tower carries a gilded weathervane dated 1757 and a clock on its east face. A porch at the west end of the north aisle is decorated with head-stops of Queen Victoria and Bishop William Jacobson. The church is worth visiting for its long history and fine craftsmanship. Parts of the present structure date from the 12th century, and the chancel was built around 1320. In 1869–70 the building was almost entirely rebuilt by Kelly and Edwards. Nineteen of the stained-glass windows are by Kempe, installed between 1870 and 1906–07. The organ, built in 1893 by Henry Willis & Sons, was improved in 1950 by the same firm. Inside, the chancel holds a sedilia and piscina in the south wall. A low wrought-iron screen by Kempe spans the chancel arch, above which hangs a painting by the same artist. The circular 19th-century font and the altar of reused Chester Cathedral roof timbers stand at the east end. The churchyard contains war graves of eleven Commonwealth service personnel from the two world wars.