The History of Pinnacle House

Pinnacle House is a former church building, which stands in a prominent position on Stanley Road in Bootle. The church closed in 1996, when it was converted to offices.
The building was originally founded in December 1876, when it was opened as the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church (Chapel).

Bootle was originally a hamlet, close to the estuary, which in the early 19th century became a bathing resort for the wealthy of Liverpool. Industrialisation and the development of the docks brought immigration to the area. Welsh immigration, much of which was from North Wales, brought with it, non-conformist chapels and the temperance movement. In the late 19th century, William Jones became the first Welsh speaking mayor of Bootle. The Welsh community in the Bootle area were largely Welsh speaking.

The Calvinistic Methodist movement separated from the Church of England in 1811 and became the largest non-conformist denomination in Wales.

The Welsh author Hugh Evans (1834-1934) moved to Liverpool in 1875 and worked for a year as a Labourer on the building of Stanley Road Chapel, writing his book “Camau’r Cysegr”, the history of the church in 1926.

Stanley Road Chapel was well renowned, not just in Bootle and Liverpool, but in North Wales too. Much of this was due to its minister Griffith Ellis, a much renowned Calvinistic Methodist Preacher, and author. Griffith preached at the opening of the new chapel in 1876. He graduated from Balliol College, Oxford in 1879 and then took the pastorate of the church until he retired in 1911. It is said that “He worked very hard in the church, which became a very large one; he was a model pastor, who gave every opportunity of service to young people.”