1859: The Lady Chapel

A day after the main altar was consecrated, the Lady Chapel altar followed. Miss Elizabeth Dalton of Thurnham gave £1098 for this chapel to be built, and hence it is sometimes known as the Dalton Chapel. Here are some extracts from Canon Billington's section on this chapel: "The Dalton Chapel, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in honour of her Immaculate Conception, is entered from the north transept. It is 26 feet long and 12 feet wide. The two arches on the chancel side are enclosed by open iron screen-work, and the arch into the transept has another screen, with gates. The floor of the chapel is raised by two steps above the transept, and is of mosaic work. Two more steps lead to the altar, the table of which is of veined marble and is supported by Irish green marble shafts. The reredos is also of marble. Over the tabernacle in the centre it has a figure of our Lady carved in white marble and standing under a canopy; on one side there is a panel carved with the Annunciation, and on the other side one of the Nativity of our Lord. The altar was consecrated by the Bishop of Liverpool the day after the church, viz. October 5, 1859."; "The chapel was restored in 1904 at a cost of £380, in celebration of the jubilee of the proclamation of the Immaculate Conception in 1854."