Building » Blackburn – St Paul

Blackburn – St Paul

Preston Old Road, Blackburn, Lancs BB2

A simple building of the late 1960s, designed as a church hall to serve a future complex, only realised in part. 

The church was built as a parish hall to serve a future church, presbytery and primary school. The architects were Greenhalgh & Williams and the building was blessed by the Most Revd Hyginus E. Cardinale, Apostolic delegate to Great Britain, in the presence of Bishop Holland on 5 May 1968. The building was designed to provide a place of worship seating 250, with two folding screens, one to provide a reduced worship area (for up to fifty) and one to close off the sanctuary while the hall was used for extra-liturgical activities. The main contractors were James Whittaker & Sons of Bastwell, Blackburn and the contract sum was just over £25,000.

The school has been built, but not the presbytery or the intended church; instead the hall remains in use as a church, served from St Mary and St John, Pleasington (qv).

Description

The building is square on plan, of steel framed construction, clad with panels of tile, brick and stone. Most of the glazing is at high level, and is now of UPVC. The pyramidal roof is covered with felt, originally with a fibreglass fleche at its apex (now removed). The interior is simply fitted out, with carpets, chairs and plain liturgical furniture. The walls of the sanctuary splay inwards, and are side-lit with yellow tinted glass in the upper panels.

Heritage Details

Architect: Greenhalgh & Williams

Original Date: 1968

Conservation Area: No

Listed Grade: Not Listed