A  simple  cruciform church of  the  1960s by the local architect David Rodney Burles, externally fairly plain, but with an attractive, light interior.

A  dual-purpose  church and  hall was built at Prittlewell in 1939 (architect  David Henry Burles) to cope with the expanding population of the northern area of Southend-on-Sea. Dedicated to the newly-canonised St John Fisher, this was initially served from Sacred Heart, Southchurch Road. Prittlewell became an independent parish in 1955, when the presbytery was built. The present church was built in 1964, from designs by David Rodney Burles (son of the architect of the first church-hall, which remains as the parish hall). Since 2001 the church has again been served from Sacred Heart, Southend.

Description

The church is a simple modern building with loadbearing walls of red brick laid in Flemish  bond  and  a  steel  framed  roof  structure  with  coverings  of  red  concrete pantiles. The   building   is   rectangular   on   plan   with   a  cruciform   gabled   roof surmounted by a slender conical spire over the crossing. The side walls have flat- roofed single storey attachments containing ancillary spaces.

The interior has a woodblock floor, plain plastered walls and pine boarding to the underside of the roof. There is a western organ gallery above the entrance vestibule and narrow flat-ceilinged passage aisles on both long sides with pairs of piloti at the east and west ends. The sanctuary has four small windows on the north side only. Above the crucifix on the blind east end wall is a ceilure which follows the pitch of the roof. The striking light fittings are presumably original.

Heritage Details