A mid-1960s brick church for a suburban area, with a laminated timber portal frame and on a conventional longitudinal plan.

There is a suggestion that the chapel in the old school in High Street was used for Catholic worship. The first firm date, however, is 1935 when Mr James Wilson gave land for the building of a church. This opened the following year and dedicated to the newly-canonised St John Fisher; it was served from St Francis de Sales in Hampton Hill (an arrangement which continued until 1948). The 1930s church is now the hall for the present church, and seems to have been designed by T.H. Birchall Scott – on the strength of the bas-relief figure of St Thomas Fisher over its entrance (Scott often used figures of dedicatee saints on his churches, e.g. Osterley, Feltham and Gunnersbury, qv), and the fact that his son, T.G. Birchall Scott, was involved in the design of the present church. Seating just sixty, the old church had become extremely overcrowded and Wilfrid Wilson made a further grant of land in 1964 for the new building. The foundation stone was laid on 13 March 1965 and it opened the following year. The church has not been consecrated due to the lack hitherto of a stone altar (but there are plans to install one). A link between the church and the presbytery was built some time between 1969 and 1986 (under the Rev. Charles Connor).

Description

The church is oriented to the west so directions given here are liturgical.

The church is built of light brown brick, exposed both inside and out, and is divided into six bays in the nave by the laminated wooden trusses of the portal frame. Beyond this is a small sanctuary. At the west end is a narthex with a repository; over it is a gallery. Each bay of the nave is lit by a tall metal window at ground floor level and a further metal window in the clerestory. Over the sanctuary is a panelled mahogany ceiling. In the nave the panels between the trusses have narrow horizontal wooden slats which have been painted white. There are no fixtures or fittings requiring special mention.

Heritage Details