England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Liverpool St Thomas

The Parish

Liverpool is one of England's largest ports and cities, it is made up of numerous parishes and St Thomas covered the southern area of the city adjacent to the Mersey Estuary. Liverpool is sited on the banks of the River Mersey which separates it from the Wirral area of Cheshire. It is thus in the extreme southwest of the ancient county of Lancashire. Liverpool is a relatively modern phenomenon, there was little here prior to the Elizabethan era, indeed the area was still just part of the wider parish of Walton on the Hill until the late 17th century. Nowadays Liverpool is a vast conurbation spreading for many miles both north and south of its origins but also inland too spreading to engulf what were separate villages until recent times. Liverpool was, at the commencement of this transcript's period, a small port with 4 parishes of which St Thomas was the middle sized covering an area of docks and adjacent housing. Like all urban parishes St Thomas covered a very small area, just a few city blocks running either side of Park Lane. By the time this transcript completes there are 17 parishes licensed for marriage and numerous villages engulfed with their own records. Today the area around St Thomas is a mixture of commercial areas and terraced housing much improved in recent times. Sadly the area received much attention from enemy bombers during World War II and many historical buildings were lost as a result.

The Church

St Thomas' church stood at the junction of Park Lane and Paradise Street its site being marked by memorial gardens. Built in 1750 of ashlar and featuring a very tall and slender tower, the latter had eventually to be removed as can be seen in the 1850 image it was capped with a battlemented top stage. By the beginning of the 20th century its congregation, overtaken by incoming catholic residents, was small and in 1905 the church was closed. The church was demolished in 1911.