Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception

In December 1854 the second mission in Birkenhead was opened. New works & especially the construction of the docks had brought a large number of Catholics to this part of town. On 8th December 1860, Bishop Brown laid the foundation stone of the new church designed by the architect Edward Welby Pugin. Two years later on 25th May, Bishop Brown returned to open the new church. It was the first church in the Diocese to be erected in honour of the Immaculate Conception.

Pugin built a magnificent vaulted church to the glory and splendour of God. The church was for many years the proCathedral of the Diocese until the Cathedral in Shrewsbury was built. The reredos of the church is decorated with pictures of the Saints & the angels focusing our attention on the fact that here earth & heaven meet. The stained glass windows feature many saints who were concerned with working with the poor such as St Vincent de Paul or who had come from communities like our own such as St Bernadette of Lourdes. These were installed after the original ones were blown out when a bomb destroyed the presbytery during the blitz in 1941. The rest of the church including the stone pulpit are original.