St Saviour's Church, Oxton
St Saviour’s Church, Oxton, is an active Anglican parish church on Bidston Road in Oxton, Birkenhead, Merseyside. It belongs to the Diocese of Chester and is part of the Birkenhead deanery and Chester archdeaconry. The benefice is shared with St Andrew, Noctorum.
The church was built between 1889 and 1892 to replace an older 1846 church that had become too small. The foundation stone was laid in March 1889, the first service was in 1891, and the tower was completed in 1892. It was dedicated on 26 May 1892. In 1941, during the war, the roof and east end were damaged by a bomb and later rebuilt.
St Saviour’s is made of red sandstone with a Welsh slate roof and is designed in the Decorated Gothic Revival style. It has a cruciform plan with a nave and clerestory, north and south aisles, transepts, a crossing tower, a south porch, and a chancel. The west end features a large five-light window with Decorated tracery.
Inside, the church has rich Arts and Crafts fittings. The four-bay arcades and many details were by notable designers. The gilded oak reredos, a triptych showing Christ in Glory and the Nativity, was designed by G. F. Bodley, with figures of the Church Fathers. The wings show Saint Werburgh and Saint Cecilia with angels. The chancel screen, choir stalls, and clergy stalls were carved by Edward Rae, with other Rae works and a Della Robbia plaque in the north chapel. The alabaster octagonal font includes scenes of Christ and the lamb and the four evangelists. A white marble war memorial to the fallen, created by Giles Gilbert Scott in 1920, stands on the west wall.
The church contains stained glass by several artists: an east window from 1974 by L. C. Evetts, Kempe glass from pre-war times (one panel in the chancel survives and more glass in the vestry relocated from a nearby house), and windows by Edward Burne-Jones (1903) made by Morris & Co. A four-manual pipe organ, originally by Robert Hope-Jones, has been rebuilt and updated several times, most recently in 1985. The bell ring contains ten bells, eight originally cast in 1895 by John Taylor & Co and later increased to ten in 1976.
St Saviour’s is a Grade II* listed building, recognized for its architectural and historic significance.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:34 (CET).