A building of some historical interest for its possible Nonconformist origins and later Catholic use, internally spacious but externally making only a modest contribution to the Westbourne Conservation Area.

There is some uncertainty about the origins of the building. By some accounts it was originally a Nonconformist chapel, by others it was originally a public hall, then an Anglican chapel, then a market. The Jesuits bought the building through Lady Wimborne, and it was opened for Catholic worship in 1927.

Description

The passage leading to the church building has a red brick screen wall on Seamoor Road which could well date from the later 1920s when the building became a Catholic church. The church is a rectangular structure of circa 1900 (it is not shown on the 1890 Ordnance map). It is built of yellow brick with a hipped slate roof. In the side walls are round-headed windows with red brick surrounds; originally there were five windows on each side, but some have been blocked.

The interior is a single space with plastered walls and a projecting cornice, above which is a cove and a flat trabeated and compartmented ceiling. Mouldings on the walls echo the outlines of the windows and also of the small eastern apse.

Entry amended by AHP 23.12.2020

Heritage Details