A functional modern worship space combined with a parish hall, of limited architectural interest.

It was suggested as early as 1957 that there should be a Mass centre on the west side of Stratford. In 1969 permission was granted and a Mass Centre established at Shottery Memorial Hall. Land for the new church in Church Lane was fenced off and blessed on 11 February 1972 and the church, designed by Radford Harper Associates of Edgbaston, was opened on 22 May 1973. It was initially dedicated to Our Lady of Peace but in 1998 Blessed Robert Dibdale was included in the dedication (Dibdale was a Catholic priest from Shottery who was martyred at Tyburn in 1586 and beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987). The total cost of the building was £36,000. The church is served from St Gregory the Great, Stratford-on-Avon (qv).

Description

The church is part of a complex which also includes parish rooms. The complex is designed in a modern functional style, with an off-centre spine wall between two volumes of unequal width with monopitch roof slopes of different heights. The walls are faced with red brick laid in stretcher bond, the windows are uPVC and the roofs are covered in felt. The church occupies the northern part of the larger volume. An entrance lobby at the south end of the west side leads into a common vestibule which opens into the south end of the church. The interior is a simple rectangular space with plain plastered walls and a monopitch roof supported on metal girders. There is a continuous strip window along the top of the west wall and tall thin rectangular windows in the north wall and above the altar, which is set against the long east wall.  Most of the fittings are recent but the moveable seating is a mixture of modern benches and more traditional wooden benches which are presumably from another church.

Heritage Details