Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady and St Edward

Summary

A small Roman Catholic church by Edward Simpson built in 1886 in Romanesque style utilising brick and terracotta. The presbytery is not included in the listing.

Reasons for Designation

The Roman Catholic church of Our Lady and St Edward, 1886 by Edward Simpson, is listed Grade II for the following reasons:
* Architectural interest: as a small Romanesque style church with an impressive interior; its bold use of terracotta ornamentation and the wide chancel arch being particularly notable features;
* Historic interest: the relatively modest exterior of the church could be interpreted as an illustration of the continuing sensitivity of Roman Catholics in small rural market towns in the 1880s, avoiding overt outward display after centuries of persecution.

History

The church of Our Lady and St Edward was constructed following a visit to Driffield by Bishop Lacy in 1883. At that time, worship for the 100 or so Catholics in the area was conducted in the Corn Exchange. The church was built to the design of Edward Simpson in 1886 and paid for by Lady Herries of Everingham Hall near Market Weighton. The presbytery, which forms a southern extension to the church, was added sometime between the survey dates of the 1910 and 1927 Ordnance Survey maps. The presbytery is not included in the listing.

The relative modesty of the exterior of the church, its lack of a tower and general low height may all have been a result of limited funds. However the church is on a minor road, set well back from the street frontage with its most impressive external architectural elaboration (its entrances) being to the rear. This suggests a deliberate design approach to avoid overt public display, perhaps indicating continued sensitivity, decades after Catholic emancipation, in this small rural market town.

Details

Roman Catholic Church, 1886, by Edward Simpson. Romanesque style.

MATERIALS: red brick mainly laid to English Garden Wall bond with yellow terracotta dressings, and clay tile roof.

PLAN: Apse; chancel with shallow projection to the north forming a small side chapel; aisle-less nave. Projecting from the nave is a shallow north porch and a vestry linking to the presbytery to the south, the presbytery being excluded from the listing.

EXTERIOR: relatively modest. Elevations are divided with moulded red brick string courses at plinth, just below window sill and impost levels. Windows are lancets with simply moulded jambs and more ornate Romanesque round-arches in yellow terracotta. The glazing is also ornamental with each window featuring leading in blocks of chevrons alternating with square lattice. The roof is continuous over the nave and chancel, extending as a cat-slide over the small side chapel. Gables are stone coped: a gabled bellcote rises at the west end and a stone cross forms a final to the east end. A tall boiler chimney rises from the intersection between the roofs of the vestry and nave.

The nave is of five bays with the north porch at the western end. This is simply gabled but has a Romanesque doorway of three orders with the yellow terracotta arch rings featuring dog tooth, chevron, and nail head ornamentation. The planked double doors are hung on ornate strap hinges. The west end has three lancet windows, the central being shorter but set higher.

The single bay chancel projects slightly to the north, forming a side chapel, and has triple lancets to both north and south elevations. The apse, which is built in header bond and is smoothly rounded, has five evenly spaced lancets.

The vestry extends as a low cross wing from the eastern two bays of the south nave wall. It is lit by two lancets on the east side which break the eaves line and are accommodated by a plain verged gable. The west elevation has a Romanesque doorway.

INTERIOR: The chancel and sanctuary arches are wide, each being supported by three orders of stone columns, the three arch rings being decorated with seven bands of Romanesque ornamentation formed with yellow terracotta including chevrons, nail heads, dog-toothing, billets and diaper patterns. Window and doorway reveals are deep, their round-arched heads also featuring a selection of yellow terracotta ornamentation: those to the nave showing variation between windows and those in the apse being identically detailed. Just below the window reveals there is a billet string course and a moulded string course links the windows at impost level. The roof structure is exposed, with arched braced principal trusses supported by shaped corbels, the common rafters being scissor-braced. The semicircular apse roof has an arch-braced kingpost. There is no division between the chancel and the small side chapel to the north.

The main entrance to the church has a modern, inner porch: this is not of special interest. One of the two doorways to the vestry now forms the entrance to a confessional.

FITTINGS: stone high altar with arcaded front. A low stone arcade also forms an altar rail beneath the chancel arch. The small side chapel has no fixtures. The nave contains simple oak open-backed bench pews with kneelers. Affixed to the nave walls are the Stations of the Cross, being painted panels in round arched wooden frames. To the west wall there is a large framed painted canvas of the Virgin and Child, thought to be a copy of a C16 Italian painting.

STAINED GLASS: the nave windows contain blue and purple coloured glass accentuating the arrangement of chevron and square lattice leading. The only pictorial stained glass in the church is in the three central windows of the apse. The right hand lancet contains an image of the Virgin and Child, the left hand one an image of St Edward, in memory of Lord and Lady Herries, founder of the church. The centre lancet showing Christ’s crucifixion is in memory of Edith Mary Forster. These windows are dated between 1893 and 1919.

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Neave, D, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire - York and the East Riding, (1995), 441

Other
"Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough: An Architectural and Historical Review" Architectural History and Practice Ltd. March 2008

End of official list entry

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