St Michael and All Angels Church, Altcar
church in Great Altcar, West Lancashire, England,UK
St Michael and All Angels Church stands to the west of the village of Great Altcar, West Lancashire, England. The church is timber-framed and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Liverpool, the archdeaconry of Liverpool and the deanery of Sefton. Its benefice is combined with that of Holy Trinity, Formby. In the Buildings of England series it is described as "an utterly charming church".
History
The earliest record of a church or chapel on the site is in a lease dated 1429. In the 17th century the church is said to have been of timber and plaster. In the 1740s it was destroyed by fire and a new church was consecrated in 1747. This was said to have been a small brick building with a cupola containing one bell and a very plain interior. That church was demolished and the present church was built in 1878–79 to a design by John Douglas at the expense of the 4th Earl of Sefton.
The public source identifies “St Michael and All Angels Church, Altcar” as church in Great Altcar, West Lancashire, England,UK. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Michael, Angels and Church.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “St Michael and All Angels Church, Altcar”, the useful work is to connect “church in Great Altcar, West Lancashire, England,UK” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7594848. Authority coordinates are 53.551, -3.028. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1429, 1747 and 1878.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “St Michael and All Angels Church, Altcar” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.