A large, simple church by Desmond Williams & Associates, reflecting the 1970s vogue for multipurpose functional buildings, but with a light-filled, calm and well-ordered interior.

Mass was said at the Wyken Hostel in Belgrave Road from 1950. From 1955, the new St John Fisher School in Kineton Road served as a Mass centre. The parish was founded in 1964 and the present church was built in 1971-2. The brief was for a simple church on a limited budget with an attached presbytery. The church was opened on 18 May 1972 by Archbishop Dwyer. The architects were Desmond Williams & Associates (architect in charge Jack Edmondson) and the main contractor Messrs G.W. Deeley of Coventry. The design is similar to that for other multipurpose church complexes by the same architects, such as Holy Spirit, Runcorn, Cheshire (Diocese of Shrewsbury). The plans allowed for a later parish hall to be built beside the church; this was added in the early 1990s.

Description

The church was built in 1971-2 to a design by Desmond Williams & Associates, as part of a multipurpose complex that include a linked presbytery and parish hall. It was built using loadbearing brickwork and steel beams supporting the flat roof. The plan is square, with a lobby to the west, and sacristies and confessionals to the east. Above the sanctuary is a slim metal spire of four rectangles and a cross.

The interior of the worship space was planned to conform with post-Vatican II liturgical requirements. There are benches on two sides of the projecting sanctuary. The internal walls are faced in brick; the rear wall of the sanctuary has a pattern formed by the slight projection of every second brick. The brick pillars have a vertical band of overlapping timber panels. The sanctuary furnishings consist of a circular stone font, a marble altar, a timber lectern and a timber tabernacle stand. Above the tabernacle hangs a Risen Christ crucifix. The interior is calm and light, lit by a continuous clerestory window band, and a skylight above the sanctuary.

Heritage Details