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  1. #1
    thewideeyedowl
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    Post St Luke's Wesleyan Church, Hoylake

    St Luke's was built some time between about 1880-1900, when Hoylake and neighbouring West Kirby were being developed. One of the people who developed the area was my great-grandfather Joseph EZARD, a staunch Methodist and 'Master Builder'. I believe that either Joseph or his wife, Jane Elizabeth EZARD, my great-grandmother, may have laid the foundation stone for this church. Is it possible for anyone who lives in the area to check whether there is indeed a foundation stone and if it bears either of their names? (I live far from the Wirral.)

    Before the building of a proper Methodist church in Hoylake, services were held at Brig House, King's Gap (the Ezards' home) until the old Mission Hall at the corner of Chapel Road was purchased for £500. I gather that St Luke's was a bigger, better replacement for the Mission Hall.

    The information here I have gleaned from a local newspaper report of my great-grandparents' Golden Wedding in 1924. Unfortunately, it does not give specific dates for the building of St Luke's but it does say a great deal about Joseph and all he did. (This man was a power-house!)

    Any help on this one would be greatly appreciated.

    Owl

  2. #2
    Name well known on Brit-Gen
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Cheshire UK
    Posts
    4,863

    Default

    Have a look at this website

    https://www.stlukeshoylake.com/#/History

    They seem to be on facebook Twitter

  3. #3
    thewideeyedowl
    Guest

    Default

    Thanks, geneius

    Yes, have now checked out the St Luke's website and the dates on their 'History' page approximate to those I can figure out from the old newspaper cutting. (I don't do Facebook or Twitter; but have considered Twitter - have got an old thread on it somewhere.)

    What I am trying to find is the St Luke's foundation stone. A bing search brought up John Owen's eclectic Wirral website: https://vwlowen.co.uk/index.htm - it's a wonderful mix of history, weather webcams, all sorts! Have contacted him on the off-chance that he might be able to help.

    Will keep you posted on progress with the foundation stone.

    Owl

    PS Does anyone who is reading this live in Hoylake?

  4. #4
    jac65
    Guest

    Default

    Hi

    There is a publication that might interest you. Yesterday's West Wirral Part Two 1860-1960 by Ian Boumphrey A pictorial history including Hoylake, West Kirby, Greasby, Caldy and Meols with over 550 photographs/graphics and timeline + index and graphs

    If you google Yesterdays Wirral Boumphrey you will find the authors website. I have a number of his publications but not this particular one.

    Andy

  5. #5
    thewideeyedowl
    Guest

    Default Memorial stone at St Luke'sChurch, Hoylake

    A friend very kindly took some photographs when visiting Hoylake last autumn, including this one:



    One plaque, out of view in this photo, says 'Wesley Guild', which is, I believe, the women's organisation within the Methodist Church. The names you can see in the photo - Mrs J Ezard is second, left - are most probably those of the Wesley Guild members at that time.

    And just now, when searching through a recent family DVD of official wedding photographs, I chanced upon one of a memorial cake trowel, which had this inscription:
    PRESENTED
    BY
    THE TRUSTEES TO
    Mrs J Ezard
    on the occasion of her
    LAYING
    A MEMORIAL STONE
    OF THE
    WESLEYAN CHAPEL
    HOYLAKE

    JULY 13TH 1897

    So, perhaps, this was the trowel that commemorated the laying of the stone in the photograph above?

    I still feel doggedly certain that, in 1960, I saw a foundation stone in the wall of a church building. Perhaps I have been confusing the two small towns - Hoylake and West Kirby. (And if I have, please accept my apologies for any wild-goose-chasing that has been going on.) Interestingly, West Kirby Museum have sent me a photograph of people watching the laying of the foundation stone for the Methodist church in WK in about 1902 - and I can spot my great-grandfather in the front row and his daughter (my great-aunt). But there is no sign of my great-grandmother Jane, so my guess is that she is the person doing the laying of that particular stone. Does that stone survive, and has anyone got a picture of it????

    But at least the emergence of the little silver cake trowel and the memorial stone in the Hoylake photograph are progressing this thread just a little bit .

    Owl

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