A good example of a post-war church built to serve a new housing estate, with an inventive plan and dramatic internal spaces.

Mackworth was a small settlement north of Derby which was greatly expanded by the creation of large housing estates to the east of the centre from 1959. The site for the church was purchased in 1962. A presbytery was built in the following year and a new church in 1971-2.

Description

Christ the King is built in the modern style of the 1960s-70s, employing a plan of interlocking lozenge shapes, an angled roof and high clerestory lighting in a rooftop lantern, and a dramatic interior with top-lit east end and imposing ceiling shapes. Internal finishes are typical of the period; plain plaster and hardwood panelling to the ceiling. There is a forward altar with bench seating arranged in an arc around it. In addition to the main space there is a separate chapel which has a separate external entrance. It can be accessed from the main body of the building but there is no direct interconnection of spaces. The chapel employs similar techniques to create a dramatic interior, with exposed concrete beams beneath the top lighting of the (liturgical) east end. Furnishings are generally of simple character and appear to be broadly contemporary with the building.

Heritage Details