{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:St Michael's Interior Aigburth.jpg|thumb|Interior of St Michael's Church, Aigburth showing Cragg's ironwork]] '''The Iron Church''' or '''The Cast Iron Church''' is any of the three churches built in Liverpool in the early 19th century by John Cragg, who ran the Mersey Iron Foundry, and architect Thomas Rickman. The churches incorporated substantial cast iron elements into their structure and decoration. Two of these churches are still in existence and are active Anglican parish churches. These are St George's Church, Everton, and St Michael's Church, Aigburth. The third church, now demolished, was St Philip's in Hardman Street.
== History == The first building in England to use iron as a structural material was St Anne's Church, Liverpool.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=R. |first=Dickinson |year=1956 |title=James Nasmyth and the Liverpool iron trade |url=https://www.hslc.org.uk/journal/vol-108-1956/attachment/108-5-dickinson/ |journal=Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire |volume=108 |pages=83–104}}</ref> It had cast iron columns and was built between 1770 and 1772.<ref name=":0" /> An iron-frame mill built was built in Derby in 1792-93 and Wesleyan Chapel in Bilston, Staffordshire, had a cast iron pulpit, columns and window frames produced by John Wilkinson.<ref name=":0" />
This trend was continued by John Cragg, owner of Mersey Iron Foundry, and Thomas Rickman, an architect, who built three churches primarily out of iron.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="stg">{{Citation |title=The Iron Church |url=http://www.stgeorgeseverton.com/architecture.html |access-date=13 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008050819/http://www.stgeorgeseverton.com/architecture.html |archive-date=8 October 2012 |url-status=dead |publisher=St George's Church, Everton}}</ref> Rickman made the designs for St George's Church, Everton, which was built between 1813 and 1814, and Cradd made the entire interior out of iron.<ref name=":0" /> St George's Church was consecrated on the 30th of October 1814.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Sharples |first1=Joseph |title=Liverpool |last2=Pollard |first2=Richard |date=2004 |publisher=Yale Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-300-10258-1 |series=Pevsner architectural guides |location=New Haven, Conn. |pages=264–265}}</ref> St Michael's Church, Aigburth, built between 1813 and 1815 and St Philip's Church, Hardman Street, built in 1816, both also have substantial cast iron elements in their structure and decoration.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="stg" /><ref name=":1" /> St Michael's Church was consecrated by the Bishop of Chester in 1815.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Bowman |first=Jamie |date=2015-06-24 |title=Step inside this unique Liverpool church as it celebrates its 200th anniversary |url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/nostalgia/take-closer-look-aigburths-st-9517956 |access-date=2025-04-05 |website=Liverpool Echo |language=en}}</ref>
St Philip's in Hardman Street is now demolished.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sharples |first1=Joseph |title=Liverpool |last2=Pollard |first2=Richard |date=2004 |publisher=Yale Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-300-10258-1 |series=Pevsner architectural guides |location=New Haven, Conn. |pages=233}}</ref> In 2015, the Bishop of Liverpool attended a service celebrating the St Michael's Church's 200th anniversary.<ref name=":2" />
==See also== *Tin tabernacle *Bulgarian Iron Church
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iron Church, The}} Category:Churches in Liverpool Category:Church of England church buildings in Merseyside Category:Gothic Revival church buildings in Merseyside Category:Cast-iron architecture in the United Kingdom