A low-cost portal frame building, given some architectural pretension by the box-like facade and tower. 

One of two churches built in Widnes in the 1950s as offshoots of St Bede’s, St Raphael’s is a portal-framed structure with a pitched roof that is concealed behind a box-like frontage of brick and render. A stubby tower with large openings in the upper stage is attached to the northwest corner. A portal-framed parish hall stands alongside, and the two-storey presbytery is linked to the tower.

The interior has the character of a parish hall, with the sanctuary contained within a proscenium. The sanctuary has been reordered, but in a makeshift manner, with a movable altar.

Heritage Details