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The
doors to the Tin Chapel at the junction of Grafton Street and Wellington
Road
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There are two distinct churches which I have confused previously. I
am not alone in this, but I now think that the account here is now the
correct one (June 2006). The Herculaneum
Wesleyan Chapel, was very close by but is not shown on the 1905 maps. The 'chapel'
shown at the corner of Grafton Street and Wellington
Road, is this one, the Seamens' Chapel.
The Liverpool Seamen's
Friend Society and Bethel Union was founded in 1826 (1).
Their southerly Chapel, aka the' Sailors' Chapel' and the 'Tin
Chapel' was built some time between 1886 and 1889 out of corrugated
iron and wood as 'Jackson's Dining and Cocoa Rooms', a temporary
building. The Seamens Friend Society bought it in 1889
and reopened it as the "Sailors' Chapel" (Seats for
100).
 It is shown on the 1906 map simply as 'chapel'. In the 1911 Gore it is shown as the "Seaman's Friendly Society Chapel". It is still shown under this name in the Gore for 1938. It
was supposed to be a temporary building, but it lasted until
1982 when it was demolished and replaced by a new building in
Beresford Road, which is still in use.
Housing now occupies the old site at the bottom of Wellington Road.
It is recorded as the 'Seamens' Chapel' in most places and was
known as such by the workers in the adjacent railway yards according
to John in Oz, who worked there. In
relation to the (original) Tin Chapel, Jan has kindly
sent the following:- "I used to attend Sunday School there when I was about 3-4 years old.
We used to call it The Sailors Chapel Corner.
I still remember the words to a song we used to sing while there, here goes!
"Sunshine corner
,Oh it's jolly fine
It's for children up to 99
All are welcome,
seats are given free
The Sailors Chapel Corner is the place for me."
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