Christ Church, Weston

Image: © David Dixon Taken: 11 May 2016

Christ Church at Weston Point is a former Anglican parish church, now surrounded by the Weston Docks. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building (Historic England List entry Number: 1271140 https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1271140 Historic England). The church was built in 1841 in Gothic style using local sandstone, primarily for the employees of the Weaver Navigation. At that time, the church stood on a headland jutting out into the River Mersey. However the Manchester Ship Canal was built on its river-side, and the Runcorn and Weston Canal on the land-side; access to the church was restricted by the movement of lock gates. When the lock gates were in use the church was effectively cut off from the mainland, and for this reason it was said to be the only church in Britain in use standing on an uninhabited island (http://www.transportarchive.org.uk/getobjectTL.php?rnum=T1047&l=t&c=&d=&y=1889&rpy=31&n=1 Transport Archive). The church was declared redundant in 1995 and later deconsecrated. The building now stands within the Port of Weston and is inaccessible to the public; the land on which the church stands is owned by the Stobart Group of companies.

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