Presbytery, Church of the Holy Trinity, Chipping Norton, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire

Summary

The presbytery to the Church of the Holy Trinity, Chipping Norton, thought to date from the late C18 or early C19, with early-C19 alterations by J M Derick.

Description

House, late C18 or early C19, probably with alterations by J M Derick.

MATERIALS: coursed Chipping Norton limestone rubble, with ashlar dressings. The roof is slated and there are stone stacks, much truncated. The western windows have unhorned sash frames, possibly original.

PLAN: the house is rectangular on plan, with central projecting bays to the east and west. The house is attached to the church to the north by the sacristies.

EXTERIOR: the house is of two stories, with the three-bay principal elevation facing west. The elevation is characterised by strong ashlar dressings: a deep storey band, quoins, and plain window surrounds. The central double-height pedimented projecting bay has a ground-floor porch in antis, with paired pilasters framing the opening. There is a wide four-panelled door with a horizontal fanlight, probably original. The ground-floor windows are tall, with six-over-six sash frames; the upper windows have three-over-six frames. The east elevation is much more altered. This also has a central pedimented projecting bay: the door opening is flush with the front of the bay, and contains modern doors; the window above is not centrally placed. To the north side of the projecting bay is a stone-mullioned window, probably late C19. There are original first-floor openings to either side of the projecting bay, containing three-over six panes, probably original. The fenestration on this elevation is otherwise irregular, with sash and casement window frames, not original. The northern bay has a triangular canted window, probably early C20. There is a single-storey lean-to against the south side of the projecting bay.

INTERIOR: the eastern entrance leads to the hall, with a room opening to north and south. The northern room connects with the sacristy; an archway dividing this room axially suggests there may once have been a passage at the western end, perhaps to do with the connection with the church. The ground-floor rooms retain plain moulded cornices, panelled window embrasures with shutters, and panelled doors. Neither has a surviving fireplace. The hall has a cornice with a circular moulding. The dog-leg stair has plain open strings and moulded newels, with a ramped handrail. The north-west first-floor room retains an early-C19 chimneypiece with reeded jambs and frieze, and roundel end-blocks. The first-floor windows have secondary glazing.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: attached to the house to the south is an L-shaped range of service buildings, present on the Ordnance Survey map published in 1881, and now converted to domestic use. These are also of limestone rubble, with ashlar quoins, with several new openings. The buildings were not inspected internally.

History

The Heythrop Estate, two miles to the east of Chipping Norton, was home to the Catholic Talbot family from the early C18. A chaplaincy was maintained, and mass said for local people in the chapel at Heythrop House. In 1818 the Heythrop estate was leased, and the chapel was no longer available to local Catholics. As a consequence, the Church of St Mary was built at Old Heythrop, overseen by Father Patrick Heffernan, chaplain to the Shrewsbury family; the church opened in 1826. In the same year, the Talbots established their principal residence at Alton Towers, Staffordshire, and Father Heffernan resolved to build another church to serve local Catholics. A site was found and acquired at Rock Hill, Chipping Norton. It is understood that the site contained an existing house, with a range of outbuildings; the house became the presbytery. The necessary £5,000 was raised, the majority being donated by Miss Mary Bowdon of Radford; labour and much of the building materials came from the Heythrop estate. The architect was John Macduff Derick, born in Ireland and a pupil of Sir John Soane, who built Banbury’s Catholic church in Gothic style in 1835 (with his partner Hickman). The church, seating 300, was opened on 25 October 1836.

The church saw a number of changes during the ministry of Father Samuel Sole, between 1879 and 1921. In 1882-3, Father Sole oversaw the building of a convent and schoolroom, in Tudor Gothic style, to the north-east of the church (this building is now an independent nursery school, new school buildings having been constructed to the east of the church in 1952 and 1974). In 1888 major alterations took place, with a Mr (probably G H) Cox of Birmingham as architect: a vaulted side chapel was added to the south side of the church; the sacristy was enlarged and a second sacristy built between the church and presbytery, with an organ loft above; and the interior of the church was redecorated. In 1966 the church was extensively remodelled and reordered, and the western bell tower taken down, with Desmond Williams Associates as architects. A further major renovation took place in 1999; the church’s scheme of decoration today (2016) dates largely from that time.

The presbytery has seen some alterations in the early C19 and subsequently. The attached range of outbuildings has been converted to domestic use.

Reasons for Listing

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION

The presbytery to the Church of the Holy Trinity, Chipping Norton, thought to date from the late C18 or early C19, with early-C19 alterations by J M Derick, is
listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Date: the building precedes the 1840 date before which most buildings are
listed;
* Historical interest: for its connection with the Roman Catholic Church of the
Holy Trinity, built shortly after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 and amongst the earlier of the larger numbers of Catholic churches built in the decades following that Act;
* Architectural interest: for its restrained Classical design, with double-height pedimented porches, with the principal doorway in antis; the building retains early windows and its front door, as well as the central stair and an early-C19 chimneypiece;
* Group value: the presbytery forms part of a historic group with the listed church and the convent and schoolroom building; on the opposite side of London Road is the former workhouse of circa 1835, with its 1856-7 chapel by G E Street.

External Links

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