A plain brick church of the early 1960s. Its external appearance has been altered by the addition of a pitched roof. The interior is simply finished with bare brick walls, but is not without architectural presence.

A Mass centre was established in Oadby in 1940 in a working men’s club. After the War there was a long search for a suitable site for a modest church to seat 200 people, for which the designs were prepared by T. E. Wilson. The present site was not finally acquired until 1960 and there was then a further delay while funds were raised. Work began in December 1964 and the church was opened in December 1965. A flat-roofed parish hall was built on the north side of the church at the same time, and the presbytery a year later. The church was re-roofed in 1977 and again in 1989, when a pitched roof was substituted for the original flat roof (the presbytery had been given a pitched roof in 1985).

Description

The church was originally a simple flat-roofed structure in a plain modern style, faced with yellow brick and with a lower flat-roofed attached hall along the length of the north side. The appearance of the main church building has been altered by the addition of a pitched hipped roof covered in blue pantiles. The west ends of both church and hall are blind; the church has a narrow central projection intended for the baptistery under a small gable. The side walls are divided into six bays by thin brick piers which support the broad eaves of the roof. The eastern bays and the western on the north side have large modern windows; otherwise each bay has a single long slit window.

The interior is plain finished, with a lino-covered floor, bare-faced brick walls (yellow brick for the side walls and red brick for the east wall) with tall slit windows on either side and a flat ceiling with a timber-covered centre and openwork steel girders. There is no structural sanctuary but the altar is raised on steps. The windows are mostly clear glazed, but with some modern glass in the lower lights and at the east end of the church. The timber benches are original.

Heritage Details