Summary
A Catholic chapel and attached presbytery, built 1838-1840 to the designs of Weightman and Hadfield for the 12th Duke of Norfolk with C20 and C21 alterations.
Reasons for Designation
The Roman Catholic Church of St Mary with attached presbytery is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* for the quality of the design composition and detailing, with elegant proportions and carving of good quality;
* for the quality of the church interior and surviving fittings, and the surviving presbytery internal features.
Historic interest:
* as a good example of a Roman Catholic church with associated buildings built during the first half of the C19.
Group value:
* for the strong group value that the church and presbytery possess with the associated former church school to the rear.
History
England’s many medieval churches had been built for a Roman Catholic mode of worship (the Latin rite). Elizabeth I’s 1559 Act of Uniformity rendered them all part of the Church of England and outlawed the Catholic Mass. The following two centuries imposed upon a diminishing minority of Catholic worshippers in England severe civil inequalities, public suspicion and periods of outright persecution. Aside from a small number of private chapels and foreign embassies, there were very few buildings dedicated to Catholic worship.
In Worksop in the early C18, practicing Catholic families said Mass in the domestic chaplaincy of the Dukes of Norfolk at Worksop Manor. Though the chapel survived a fire at Worksop Manor in 1761, the 10th Duke, though not Catholic himself, provided the local Catholic community with a small chapel and priest’s house adapted from an existing building at Sandhill Dyke. Worksop Manor and its grounds were sold by the twelfth Duke in 1838 and the Church of St Mary and the adjoining presbytery were constructed at the Duke’s expense around this time. They were built to the designs of J G Weightman and M E Hadfield, who formed an architectural partnership based in Sheffield from 1838 to 1858 and between them designed several Roman Catholic churches.
The foundation stone for the Church of St Mary was laid on 29 October 1838 by Michael Ellison, agent to the Duke of Norfolk and uncle of M E Hadfield, and the church was opened on 26 February 1840 by Dr Walsh, Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District. The interior featured a nave with tracery to the wooden roof and an organ loft. The semi-hexangular sanctuary featured an elaborate oak reredos with crocketed canopies and pinnacles, upon an altar of white Roche Abbey stone. The adjoining presbytery was built at the same time as the church. In 1870, the Duke of Norfolk funded improvements including a new sacristy and confessional, along with the installation of a heating system. This work was carried out under the direction of Matthew Hadfield.
In late 1913, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and the Duchess Sophie von Hohenberg attended Mass at St Mary’s while staying with the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey. Months later, their assassination precipitated the outbreak of the First World War. In 1920 a Georgian-style oak memorial was erected in the church to the memory of soldiers of the parish killed in that war, and in 1953 Bishop Ellis of Nottingham consecrated a new bell as a memorial to parishioners who had lost their lives in both world wars of the C20.
A new stone alter, lectern and stone font by Gerard Smith of Smith and Roper of Bakewell were added in the late C20. In 2007 the parish was merged with St Joseph’s, Worksop. In 2012, St Mary’s received funding for external repairs and renovation. Internal works included redecoration and a glazed entrance to the nave from the lobby area.
Details
A Catholic chapel and attached presbytery, built 1838-1840 to the designs of Weightman and Hadfield for the 12th Duke of Norfolk with C20 and C21 alterations.
MATERIALS: both the church and presbytery are constructed of coursed ashlar, with carved stone dressings and slate roofs.
PLAN: the church is orientated on an east-west axis and has an aisleless rectangular planform with a short, canted apse to the east end. The presbytery has a roughly L-shaped plan and adjoins the church at its south-east corner.
CHURCH
EXTERIOR: the church is composed of a nave of five bays, divided by pier buttresses with chamfered sills and plinth, beneath a continuous roof with a shallow parapet and coped gables. There is an apsidal chancel to the east. The west elevation features a Tudor arched doorway within a chamfered and rebated reveal, with shields carved into the spandrels. Above this is a Perpendicular style eight-light window with mullions and transoms, cusped heads and a hood mould. Above again, is a Decorated style canopied niche, on an angel corbel, containing the Virgin and child. The apex of the gable features a shouldered bellcote with a chamfered, arched bell niche, surmounted by a bronze cross. There are gargoyles above the buttresses to both of the west corners of the building.
The buttressed apsidal chancel has a triple lancet east window and flanking double lancet windows, each with cusped heads and set beneath a drip mould with carved figure stops. The north and south sides of the building feature two light, Gothic arch windows to each bay. All windows have hood moulds featuring carved motifs or figure heads. To the south side is a vestry, the earlier section to the north is beneath a pitched roof and the more recent extension to the west has a flat roof with parapet and corner buttress.
INTERIOR: the west main entrance leads into an early-C21 glazed lobby beneath a galleried organ loft. The organ loft features a traceried balustrade and organ. The west window is of clear leaded glass with stained glass and quatrefoils beneath the pointed arch. In front of the lobby is a late-C20 stone font by Smith & Roper and a C21 confessional booth. Hammerbeam trusses with gilded pendants and traceried spandrels divide each bay of the nave. The upper, central braces meet to form a Tudor arch, which is echoed in the archway between the nave and chancel. The Late C19 or early C20 stained glass windows of the nave are probably by Hardman. Below these are 12 moulded relief panels depicting the Stations of the Cross.
Three steps lead up to the semi-hexangular chancel which features an oak reredos with crocketed canopies and pinnacles, upon a stone plinth featuring five carved and painted panels with heraldry. The stone alter and lectern by Smith and Roper were added in the late C20. The three stained glass windows above have traceried heads. The central window is divided into three panels and features the Madonna and Child. The roof of the chancel has a ribbed ceiling with moulded angel bosses to springing points. A door to the south side of the nave leads into the vestry which contains C20 fitted cabinets.
PRESBYTERY
EXTERIOR: the presbytery is composed of two perpendicular, two-storeypitched-roof ranges meeting at the south-west corner. Both ranges feature a stone ridge stack offset from the centre, along with ashlar quoins, a moulded string course and flush window and door surrounds. The principal elevation faces west and is of three bays with a brick end stack to the north side. The southernmost bay projects slightly and features a gable with kneelers and a small squint window within the apex, and tripartite casement windows with glazing bars to both floors. The central front door has a Tudor arched head and is set within a flush stone surround with carved spandrels. North of this is a bay window featuring three sash windows in a chamfered frame with plain lower sashes and upper sashes divided into smaller panes. Above, to the first floor are two pairs of casements, again divided into smaller panes. These continue to the outer bays of the south elevation which also features much smaller windows offset from the centre on both floors, as well as one set within the gabled dormer above the easternmost first floor window. A single storey pitched range and garage projects from the south-east corner of the building, with a smaller brick lean-to attached to its south side. The dual aspect of the east elevation forms an L-shape and features a lean-to porch with a half-glazed, Tudor-arched door set within a flush stone surround with spandrels. The windows to this elevation are also casements with glazing bars.
INTERIOR: the principal entrance leads into a central hallway with the principal rooms to either side. These feature moulded cornicing above a picture rail. Fireplaces have been removed or replaced in the late C20. A staircase with half landing leads from the hallway to the first floor. It features a moulded handrail meeting a turned octagonal newel post to the ground floor, turned balusters, and three square newel posts with relief carving to outer faces, surmounted by hollow pointed finials. Above the stairwell is a plastered beam with decorative corbel detail. The landing features moulded cornicing. There are four panelled doors and moulded architraves throughout. A ladder staircase with bullnose treads leads from the landing to the attic.
