Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady Help of Christians and St Augustine's Hall, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire

Summary

Our Lady Help of Christians was constructed in 1909 to designs by Arthur Young, abutting a late-C19 malthouse now known as St Augustine's Hall. It is prominently located at the eastern approach to Rickmansworth, and built in a conventional but assured C14 Gothic style more usually associated with Anglican churches.

Description

Church, Our Lady Help of Christians, constructed in 1909 to designs by Arthur Young, abutting a late-C19 malthouse now known as St Augustine's Hall. It is prominently located at the eastern approach to Rickmansworth, and built in a conventional but assured C14 Gothic style more usually associated with Anglican churches.

MATERIALS: the church is built of concrete, but is faced with field flints, under a tiled roof with scalloped banding. Dressings are ashlar stone.

PLAN: the church faces south, and directions are liturgical. It is accessed via a porch to the south, and comprises a tower to the west (now enclosed at ground floor to form a sacristy), a nave with north aisle terminated by confessionals at west (formerly a baptistery) and Lady Chapel (1935) to the east. The former sacristies at south-east now contain a repository. The altar platform has been brought forward beyond the chancel arch, in the round.

EXTERIOR: the style is late medieval, hence the use of Perpendicular windows; whilst the two-light mullioned windows in the belfry are suggestive of a C16 or C17 date. The tower is buttressed and has three stages, with overhanging, broach steeple, and is dominated by a three-light window which lights the gallery. The porch is half-timbered above a flint-faced plinth, having a four-centred opening with stained timber-sheeted doors. The former sacristy is double-gabled, all faced in flint, with pointed-arched entrance and four-light mullioned window with label moulding. The nave and aisle are lit by pairs of leaded quarry lights with segmental heads and hood mouldings. The east window has five lights. The north aisle, which terminates with the former baptistery at west and the Lady Chapel at east, is canted at each end, and its roof is concealed by a parapet. Over the nave/sanctuary junction there is a single-opening bellcote, currently without the bell. Beyond the east end of the church and attached to it is the C19 St Augustine’s Hall, faced with brick and having Perpendicular fenestration suggestive of the C16. Beyond, and still attached, is the presbytery (built in 1994) which follows the style of the hall but on a slightly larger scale. The presbytery is not of special interest.

INTERIOR: the interior walls are plastered and whitened. Over the nave the boarded roof is of a broad keel-shape; that over the sanctuary is vaulted, having timber sheeted ribs with bosses at the junctions. A principal feature of the interior is the three-bay arcade with segmental arches to the north aisle; the inner chamfering of the arches dies into simple chamfered piers. At the west end there is a small gallery set in the lower part of the tower, with carved timber former altar rails re-used as a parapet. The original sanctuary is framed by a pointed chancel arch. The sanctuary has been reordered and is furnished sparsely, with the tabernacle supported on a Gothic stone pedestal within a chamfered recess; the original high altar has now been brought forward and truncated, by Ormesby of Scarisbrick. The Lady Chapel is entirely clad in carved and fretted timber panelling by Fr. Gregory Chedal, with a Caen stone and marble altar and terrazzo flooring.

The east window depicts the Holy Family, St Augustine and St Anna, 1911, signed by Gustave Pierre Dagrant of Bordeaux (presumably he was known to the French Assumptionists), and the windows in the Lady Chapel depict the Nativity, Presentation, Christ and the Doctors (south), and the Annunciation, Visitation (north), by Joseph E. Nuttgens, c1935. Timber benches, individually carved by Fr. Gregory Chedal, have been retained.

History

In 1886 a Catholic presence in Rickmansworth was established by Fr. Henry Hardy, with a mission at 86 High Street. Fr. Hardy was an Anglican convert and a descendant of Captain Hardy of Trafalgar fame; he also built churches at Berkhamsted, Boxmoor and Tring. In 1902 increasing Mass attendances encouraged Fr. Hardy to buy land and a cottage further up High Street. Existing buildings on site, which included a late-C19 malthouse owned by Salters Brewery, were converted into St Augustine’s Priory and Hall; and a corrugated-iron hut was built to function as a temporary chapel (demolished in the 1950s). It was from there that in 1903 the Assumptionist Fathers established themselves. They were a French congregation, founded in 1845, who had come to England, invited by Cardinal Manning as far back as the 1880s, but who had only been able to establish themselves in 1901 with a mother house in Bethnal Green. The new church was built from designs by Arthur Young, adjoining St Augustine’s Hall; work on site began on 2 February 1909 with the foundation stone being laid on 27 March. Contractors were Brightman and Sons of Watford. Building work was overseen by Fr. Gregory Chedal, who had trained originally as a carpenter, and who carved the altars, pews, pulpit and altar rails. The altar was designed by Fr Jean-Baptiste Riotte, although it has since been extensively modified. Building proceeded rapidly and the church was opened on 26 October 1909, having cost £1,500. A drawing in the church by Young, dated 1907, shows that the aisle was not originally intended. The Calvary on the rock in the front lawn was erected in 1914. In 1935 the church was extended by the addition of the Lady Chapel at the north side of the sanctuary. Again, Fr Chedal was responsible for the extensive carving which adorns the Chapel; the glazed borders to either side of the altar were achieved by the use of plain glass with coloured card placed behind.

The Assumptionists presided over the parish for 75 years until 1979, opening three chapels of ease in the area between 1958 and 1974, which became the centres of the present parishes of Croxley Green and Mill End. In September 1979 care of the Rickmansworth parish was transferred to the Verona Fathers (official title – “The Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus”) whose national postulancy was established here. On 8 April 1981 the church was consecrated by His Eminence Cardinal Hume Archbishop of Westminster. In 1985 the Verona Fathers left and the parish was adopted by the Westminster Diocese. The presbytery, beyond St Augustine’s Hall, was built in 1994-95 (architect J P Canepaero of Watford), replacing an older building.

Extensive reordering was carried out in 1989, at which time the area beneath the gallery was enclosed to form a sacristy, the original sacristy was converted to a repository, and the baptistery was converted to confessionals. The altar was truncated and brought forward beyond the sanctuary, which has lost its fittings. Altar rails were reused to form a parapet for the gallery, and the pulpit was retained but relocated. The baptistery font now occupies a space adjacent to the altar platform.

St Augustine’s Hall pre-dates the church. The Presbytery is a modern building of 1994.

Reasons for Listing

The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady Help of Christians built 1909 by Arthur Young and St Augustine's Hall of late-C19 date, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architect: the church is by the highly-regarded ecclesiastical architect Arthur Young;
* Architectural interest: as an example of Arthur Young's competence in the interpretation of English medieval styles, an exceptionally well-composed church in the East-Anglian idiom, enlivened by contrasting use of flint, stone and half-timbering and enhanced by the inclusion of the late-C19 hall, resulting in a confident ensemble;
* Interior: the church retains a considerable proportion of high quality original fabric, notably the carved altar, pews, pulpit and alter rails by Fr. Gregory Chedal enhanced by the addition of stained glass by Gustave Pierre Dagrant in 1911 and that by Joseph E Nuttgens in 1935;
* Historic interest: for the use and integration of the C19 building formerly associated with Rickmansworth's brewing industry that now functions as St Augustine's Hall.

External Links

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