Records of Hope Street Church.

1. Kaye Street Meeting, 1 vol., 1709-1769

2. Paradise Street Chapel, 20 docs., 1826. 1843-1850

3. Hope Street Church, 18 vols., 372 docs., 1837-1952

4. Hope Street Schools, 2 vols., 32 docs., [1855], 1878-1939

5. Papers relating to Provincial Assemblies held in Liverpool, 2 docs., 2 gatherings, 1855, 1866, 1885

Acc. 2609

These records were deposited in this library by the Rev. E. Phillips, Minister of Gateacre Chapel, in July 1973. [Following the closure of Hope Street Church the records listed below were transferred to Gateacre Chapel and remained there until their transfer to this library].

Hope Street Church was opened in 1849 to provide a home for the Congregation which had its origins in the X Meeting of 1687. This Meeting later moved to a chapel in Kaye Street and again in 1791 to the Paradise Street Chapel which remained the home of the Congregation until 1849. No records of the X Meeting or the Kaye Street Chapel were found in this accession, although a Register of Births, 1709 - 1769, is now preserved in the Public Record Office (an Ms copy of this register is listed at 288 HOP 1/1 below). Further registers, 1770-1823 and 1824-1837 are also preserved in the P.R.O. The depositor has stated that the Minute Books [of the Paradise Street Chapel] from 1811 consulted by H.D. Roberts are missing (see Roberts, H.D. Hope Street Church, Liverpool 1909, esp. chapters 16, 18-19). In this accession only 20 documents relating to the Paradise Street Chapel were found.

The decision to remove from Paradise Street Chapel seems to have been made in 1845 (see Roberts, op. cit., p.369). The architects chosen to design the new church were Messrs Barry abd Brown (Harvey Lonsdale Elmes being one of the unsuccessful competitors). The foundation stone of the church was laid on 9 May 1848, and the church was opened, after some delay, on 18 October 1849. James Martineau, minister of the Paradise Street Chapel from 1833, continued as minister of the church until his retirement in 1857.

By 1955 the fabric of the church was in a bad state; the congregation had diminished; and the high cost of maintaining the church was draining the Church's funds (see Liverpool Echo, 8 July 1955). Although there was talk of closing the church at this time, this rumour was almost immediately put down (see Liverpool Daily Post, 15 July 1955). However, following further decay of the fabric and vandalism which made it impossible to protect the extensive buildings, the congregation continued to meet in the Y.M.C.A. Mount Pleasant, and the decision to demolish the church was taken in 1961, and demolition took place the following year.

The most complete history of Hope Street Church is to be found in H.D. Roberts, Hope Street Church Liverpool, 1909 (although this work contains many inaccuracies).