A modest brick chapel of the 1920s, one of a large number built in the diocese by the Leicester builder F.J. Bradford.

A Mass centre was established at Rothley in 1922, and the church followed five years later, being opened by Bishop Dunn on 19 July 1927. The church was designed by F. J. Bradford of Leicester, and is similar in design to his church at Aylestone (qv). Although the exterior was  plain,  the interior was  originally elaborately furnished.

The church was built as a chapel-of-ease served from Barrow and Sileby but is now served from Birstall.

Description

This plan of this small church is a single cell. The body of the building is faced in red brick laid in English bond on a blue brick plinth, the west front is brown brick and looks like a later addition. The pitched roof is covered in pantiles. The west front has a central projecting porch set between lower flat roofed elements with chamfered corners. The side walls are divided into four bays by brick pilaster strips and each bay has small paired round headed windows under a round arch with tile decoration in the tympanum, an Italianate feature. There is a small projecting sacristy in the east bay of the south wall. The east wall is blind, apart from a round opening in the gable, and has a modern timber addition with a lean-to roof.

The main interior space has plastered and painted walls and a timber boarded barrel ceiling with flat timber sections on either side. The windows are clear glazed. At the west end of the church is a wide opening into what was presumably originally a baptistery. The east end wall is now painted red, with pilasters flanking the shallow altar recess.   Simple wooden benches and other fittings of equal simplicity.

Heritage Details