The church was built as a combined dance hall and Mass centre in c.1938, a utilitarian design with some Gothic trim. It was remodelled and enlarged in 2013. 

Pollards Hill grew as a new housing estate in the 1920s, a process which accelerated after the Second World War. St Michael’s was originally served from St Bartholomew, Norbury (qv). In 1938 Fr Cyril Walmsley, parish priest at St Bartholomew’s, acquired the site and had a dance hall built to serve also as a Mass Centre. Pollards Hill became a semi-independent parish in 1964, the first resident priest in the then-new presbytery being Fr Kenneth Palmer. It became fully independent in 1982. The church was externally remodelled and extended at both ends in 2013 (agents Stone Ecclesiastical); the description below and photos above date from the original Taking Stock review in 2011.

Description

The church is a plain structure of c1938, with a pebbledash frontispiece and painted rendered panels interspersed with painted brick buttresses on the side and rear elevations. Welsh slate roof. The only external architectural adornment is the curious toy-like castellated turrets on either side of the gable at the west end. Inside, the church consists of a single aisleless space under a collar rafter roof. Marble lining to the sanctuary walls and modern (1980s) semi-abstract coloured glass in the windows, by a parishioner.

Text amended by AHP 19.12.2025

Heritage Details