An  attractive 1930s church, influenced by  the  work  of  the architects Bernard Miller and F. X. Velarde. The building has some internal furnishings of note and is a local landmark. 

Built as a chapel-of-ease to St Francis, Garston, St Bernadette’s is a basilican church of 1935-36 in a moderne Romanesque style, designed by F. Reynolds of Hill, Sandy & Norris. It is built of brown brick with a tiled roof and white painted round headed timber windows. The gabled west front has a central doorway and above that a carved stone relief of the vision of St Bernadette. A tall campanile rises above the south porch.

The  simple  interior  is  long  and  narrow,  and  consists  of  a five-bay nave with  aisle passages set behind a semi-circular headed arcade and a clerestory. The wall surfaces are roughly plastered throughout, and the ceiling is timber boarded with exposed king post trusses below. Projecting out from a shallow recess at the east end is a baldacchino set on coppered columns with carved timber capitals. The stone altar has been brought forward. There are two side chapels, and over the sanctuary is a carved wooden crucifix. In the Lady Chapel is a small bronze statue of the Virgin by Arthur Dooley. The pews are contemporary with the church. At the west end is a shallow narthex with an organ loft above. At the northwest corner a baptistery projects from the main vessel of the church and contains a brick font.

Heritage Details