A fairly standard design of the late 1950s by L. A. G. Prichard,  enlivened externally by an octagonal, mainly glazed baptistery.

A  temporary Mass centre was established in 1955/6 to serve the area  between Maghull and Our Lady, Lydiate. The foundation stone for the present building was laid by Archbishop Heenan on 24 May 1958.

Description

A large church of 1958 by the prolific post-war practice of L. A. G. Prichard. The building has a reinforced concrete portal frame, externally faced in pale red brick laid in stretcher bond. The church consists of a six-bay nave, south aisle, baptistery at the west end, chancel with side chapels. The nave has a shallow pitched slate roof, the aisle a flat roof covered with felt. The octagonal baptistery has a reinforced concrete frame and is mainly glazed; it is surmounted by a short GRP fleche with a cross on top. The entrance is in the west front with a recessed and mainly glazed central section containing two pairs of doors, and a large cruciform subdivision. A tablet to the left of the entrance records the laying of the foundation stone. Almost continuous glazing to the aisle (five lights per bay) and triple clerestory windows with slightly pointed heads to each bay of the nave.

Inside, the concrete portal frame is expressed, but has been painted in imitation of marble. There is a western gallery, the underside of which is enclosed to form a narthex. Wide nave, with a lower south aisle and Lady Chapel at the east end. A hemispherical and plain unmoulded chancel arch leads to the shorter, narrower sanctuary space, which has a coffered timber ceiling. The sanctuary is side-lit, with a plain east wall in front of which is suspended a timber canopy over the site of the former high altar. The stone and marble forward altar may be a cut-down version of the original one. This and the relocation of the font to the sanctuary area belong to a post-Vatican II reordering. Sacristies and a side chapel dedicated to the Sacred Heart give off to the north.

Entry amended by AHP 9.1.2021

Heritage Details