Description

Reginald Fairlie, 1938. Roman Catholic church, built originally as church hall; cruciform-plan with 6-bay aisled nave; single storey flat-roofed entrance vestibule to south flanked by short projecting wings. Cape Dutch design with modernist details. Brick rendered and painted white above sill level, with brick and stone dressings. Brick base course and brick band course at sill level to aisles. Stone coping to gable ends and parapet of flat-roofed section. Top of nave roof flattened behind gables and with 6 regularly-spaced circular lights inserted.

S (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: symmetrical arrangement; central projecting vestibule occupies width of nave; short flanking wings of same height to either side of gable end. flat roof of vestibule and wings obscured by coped parapet with brick band course. Pair of recessed entrances with brick architraves within slightly projecting central section of vestibule; narrow flanking windows; similar windows set back within ?wings?, one to either side. Cape Dutch style gable punctuated by circular window with brick surround and surmounted by stone cross to S of nave.

E AND W (SIDE) ELEVATIONS: 5 windows to main body of nave; central window with flanking narrow windows to small wing to E (that to W has been altered to contain round-arched window and only one remaining narrow window; wrought-iron mounting to left). Entrance to N of nave with plain brick flanking pilasters and stone lintel with ashlar cornice corbelled out above; boarded timber door; 2 windows to N of this. 3 gabled louvred vents to roof.

N ELEVATION: 6 windows (partially blocked).

Square-paned timber casement windows throughout. Grey slate roof. Single coped chimney to kitchen in NE corner. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: open roof supported by 5 timber scissor trusses supported on steel stanchions and lit from above by 7 circular roof lights. Lower aisle roofs (supported on covered steel framework); separated from nave by 2 pillars on either side. Circular-arched entrance to chancel at N end. Stained glass depicting coats of arms of saints along top row of lights to aisle windows; circular window to S shows Jesus appearing to Margaret Mary; baptism of Christ depicted in round-arched window of small chapel in SW corner. Series of murals by Felix McCulloch (1950's) representing scenes from life of Christ runs along frieze above aisles; altarpiece on S wall is of Jesus and his suffering revealed to Margaret Mary.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. B group with adjacent presbytery, also by Reginald Fairlie and part of his designs for the church complex. Originally intended as a church hall but plans for large adjacent church were abandoned shortly after the construction of the hall (instead a small church hall of timber construction was erected to W in 1950's and the church hall became the church). One of Fairlie's last ecclesiastical designs, acknowledging contemporary fashion in the use of exposed brick and the flat roof of the vestibule, but essentially rooted in the historicist tradition.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17811197

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
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  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)