Apparently the interior of St. Werburgh's Church was quite a sight:
"St Werburgh’s Church interior before the horrendous modernisation in the seventies....you would find a gem. Inside it was simultaneously the most spooky and yet beautifully atmospheric religious place in Birkenhead. It had a four times lifesize bleeding plaster crucifix (Victorian era) painted in horrific pallid realism behind the altar and some towering black statues of the saints to the right and left. (Benedict and Werburgh I think). I once attended "benediction" there on a Sunday afternoon and the whole place was a feverish dream swirling in incense. A real time-warp place/experience. I hope the old altar-piece and that crucifix is still behind the horrid plastic wood wall behind the altar with which they covered it (if any of it still there.....I was last in Birkenhead around 1992!!). Seriously it was all spooky but really beautiful"
I myself was forced there mnay times as a pupil in the 1990's and it was strange enough then, but this older memory sounds far more gothic! Anyone have any old pictures of the inside?
I remember the old interior of St Werburgh's and it was very different from what is there today. The sanctuary was very classical in style, flanked by gianr pilasters, but what I remember most was the full set of apostles. These were life size statues of the 12 apostles (by Mayer of Munich) arranged around the church on plinths about 12 foot above the floor.
The church was "modernised" in the late 1960s due, it is said, to a massive infestation of dry rot.
The church, following the re-0rdering, has been described by the North West Catholic History Society as:
"An expanse of pastel pink reminiscent of a night club circa 1970 and an abundance of timber that would be more at home in a sauna or leisure centre."
I have not seen any pictures of the old interior, but the Diocesan Archives may well have some.
