St Chad's Church, Kirkby

St Chad's Church is in Old Hall Lane, Kirkby, Knowsley, Merseyside, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Huyton, the archdeaconry of Liverpool, and the diocese of Liverpool. Its benefice is united with those of St Mark, Kirkby: St Martin, Southdene, Kirkby: and Tower Hill, St Andrew, Kirkby. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.

History
The church has an ancient foundation, preceding the Norman conquest, and a church on the site is recorded in the Domesday Book. This church was replaced in 1766 by a Georgian chapel. This was replaced in turn by the present church that was built between 1869 and 1871. It was designed by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin. The initial estimate was for £10,000, but the cost rose to £12,000 , and was paid for by the 4th Earl of Sefton. It provided seating for 650 people. The stone used for its construction was taken from the Earl's own quarries.

Exterior
St Chad's is constructed in red sandstone with tiled roofs. Its design incorporates features of Norman and Gothic architecture. The plan consists of a six-bay nave with a clerestory, north and south porches, north and south aisles, a short chancel with an organ loft to the north and a chapel to the south, and a tower at the crossing. The tower is in three stages with a saddleback roof. At the southeast corner of the tower is an octagonal stair turret with a conical slated roof. At the west end of the church, the aisles have single lancet windows, and the nave has a triple lancet. Most of the windows elsewhere in the church are also lancets. Both of the doorways are Norman in style; the north doorway is blocked, and the south doorway is ornately carved.

Interior
Inside the church, the arcades have pointed arches and Corinthian capitals; the piers of the north arcade are octagonal, those of the south are round. The font is early Norman, and is carved with figures, including Adam and Eve, and Saint Michael spearing a serpent. The font is considered to be the oldest man-made article in Kirkby. On the east wall of the church is an opus sectile reredos of 1898, designed by Henry Holiday and depicting the Last Supper. Also in the chancel is an arched sedilia with a carved scene in its tympanum. Holiday also designed most of the stained-glass windows, which date from 1871 to 1897.

External features
The churchyard contains the war graves of a soldier of World War I, and another of World War II.