Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs and attached presbytery

Summary

Roman Catholic church, 1883 by William de Normanville and William Fox, incorporating the chancel of an earlier church by T J Wilson. Gothic Revival style. The adjoining presbytery dates to 1871 and was retained when the present church was rebuilt. The two-storey rear extension and flat-roofed single-storey extension with porch to the presbytery are not of special architectural or historic interest.

Reasons for Designation

The Roman Catholic church of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, of 1883, and attached presbytery of 1871-81 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: a handsome Gothic Revival design that is well-detailed and of a quality that is unusual for its context serving an expanding industrial community;
* Rarity: the church is particularly notable for the provision of a Holy Souls chapel, an interesting and good quality feature lined with marble, considered to be a relative rarity for a parish church;
* Fixtures and fittings: the original (reduced) reredos and altar and the stained glass to the E window are of good quality materials, craftsmanship and execution which raise the interest of the building considerably;
* Historic interest: the church has historic interest as the church of an early mission (1651) and for its association with the Smythe Family, significant patrons of the Catholic faith;
* Group value: the church and presbytery benefit from a strong spatial and functional group value.

History

The mission in Willington was founded as early as 1651 and endowed by Sir George Smythe and his son; it was served by a secular priest at a farmstead at Newhouse near the present church, but moved to the church of St Michael at Esh Laude in 1798. The mission was revived due to the expanding mining community, and a church and adjoining presbytery were constructed on the site in 1871 to the designs of London architect T J Willson on land donated by Sir Fredrick Smythe. In 1881 this church was damaged by fire and was rebuilt to designs of Catholic architect William de Normanville (also Durham City Engineer), with a new nave and tower but retaining the original chancel with some window modifications. After Normanville left his post in 1882, the church was completed by William Fox (Durham City Architect). The new church was opened on St Patrick’s Day 1883 to seat 400 at a cost of £2,200. It was consecrated by Bishop Wilkinson on 27 September 1895. A new altar and stained glass was added in 1888 and the altar replaced in 1894 by a grander one of Bere stone and coloured marbles by Fr Fortin. In 1903 a new organ by Blackett and Howden of Newcastle, was installed, possibly in an extended organ loft.

The church was re-ordered in 1982 to a scheme devised by C Rainford of Newcastle. The chancel arch was blocked with the 1894 reredos, which was separated from its altar and reduced in size, and above this a stained glass screen was inserted. A new sanctuary was created in front with the truncated and rebuilt 1894 altar which was placed centrally with the tabernacle to the right on a new plinth. The original sanctuary became a weekday chapel. Additionally, at the west end, the underside of the gallery was enclosed to create a narthex and reconciliation room.

The adjoining presbytery dates to 1871 and was retained when the present church was rebuilt.

Details

Roman Catholic Church, 1883 by William de Normanville and William Fox, incorporating the chancel of an earlier church by T J Willson. Gothic revival style.

MATERIALS: local stone with ashlar dressings; Welsh slate roofs.

PLAN: the church is oriented E to W. It has an aisleless nave, chancel and W tower and a N chapel. A presbytery is attached to the NE corner of the church by a linking sacristy.

EXTERIOR
CHURCH: roofs are generally pitched and all windows have original leaded glass. The two-bay chancel has a pair of traceried windows (largely obscured on the N side) considered to have been renewed in 1883; those to the S side are without hood moulds. The E end is steeply pitched with skew stones to the eaves and is surmounted by a cross finial with a highly placed rich, curvilinear window with a gabled hoodmould. The six-bay nave is marked externally by stepped buttresses with each bay containing a two-light window with hoodmould with curvilinear tracery, of greater complexity in the two E bays of the S side and the E bay on the N side. The more public S side has neatly coursed stonework, with random coursing to the N side. Attached to the N side of the nave is the lower mortuary or Holy Souls chapel, with windowless sides and a three-light curvilinear window in the gable end. Adjoining this to the E is a flat-roofed stone addition with a side, shoulder-arched entrance to the church and adjoining panel window with curvilinear tracery; this also links to the later additions to the rear of the presbytery. The buttressed W end is formed by a three-stage tower with a crenelated parapet and corner finials. The lower stage contains the main entrance to the church with a hood mould and fitted with double, boarded doors; side walls have a single lancet. The second stage has a large curvilinear tracery window with a large plate tracery window to each of the side walls. The upper stage has a louvered belfry of paired lancets to all sides.

PRESBYTERY: a single-storey linking block with a pitched roof joins the chancel to the presbytery which is set back. It has steeply pitched roofs and two squat, stone gable chimney stacks. Window openings are all rectangular with flush lintels and relieving arches above and chamfered stone sills. Those to the ground floor are either single or paired narrow lights, with to the first floor larger single openings. Window frames are mostly original horned sashes, with many having upper and lower margin lights. The main E elevation has three-bays, the S one set back and a chimney stack to the right gable. There is an entrance in the centre bay with a single window to the right and a single window to the first floor. The N bay has paired narrow windows and a single window to the first floor. The S bay has a single narrow window to both floors. The left return has paired windows to the ground floor and a window to the first floor. The rear wing has similar windows. The rear elevation has a two-storey extension, itself extended by a single-storey flat roofed range with porch.
INTERIOR
CHURCH: the sanctuary (now used as a weekday chapel) has an open timber arched braced roof except in the E bay which has a painted canopy of honour over the site of the former high altar. There is a small marble altar with clustered columns and a carving of Agnus Dei in the frontal. The E window depicts Our Lady of Sorrows, and may date from 1894. There is a carved aumbry and piscina in the N wall and a piscina in the S wall. A full-height opening in the N wall gives access to a short passage leading to the sacristy, which is entered through a shoulder-arched entrance fitted with a heavy, modern timber door; it has a coved plaster ceiling, simple cornice and a fireplace. The sanctuary is now placed in front of the chancel arch on a dais. The altar has been re-sited and is now freestanding; it is constructed of Bere stone with enriched marble columns with foliate capitals and polished marble gemstones, with an inset rectangular panel depicting the Descent of Christ from the Cross, flanked by arched panels painted with vases of flowers. The original, but truncated Gothic marble reredos is now sited in the chancel arch; it comprises five, rather than the original six, of the Seven Sorrows of Mary set within cusped, cinquefoil ogee heads with crockets and finials. The fine and ornate alabaster tabernacle is set to the right with slender marble columns supporting a Gothic arch with angels and a floral frieze over, on a new white marble plinth. In the tympanum over the reredos is a modern five-light stained glass window to St John Boste.

The aisleless nave with painted plaster walls has seating of simple open-backed pine pews with inverted Y-shaped ends, which might date from the original 1871 church. It has an open timber arch braced roof springing from corbelled wall posts, with scissor trusses at the apices. The windows, inset within stone arched surrounds, have tinted glass within rectangular and diamond quarries, and there is a single stained glass window in the S wall depicting the women at the tomb and Noli me Tangere. Projecting from the N wall is the Holy Souls Chapel; this has stone Gothic arcading carried on slender marble columns with floral bosses to the spandrels. The arcade is inset with marble panels recording month by month, the names of the dead of the parish and elsewhere. Set into its N wall either side of the window are two marble panels with polished marble gemstone-set crosses; that to the left to John Leadbitter Smith of Flass Hall, benefactor of local missions and on the right to Fr Fortin, first mission priest. There is a timber gallery at the W end with a trefoil-headed arcaded gallery front, supported on a pair of ornate cast-iron columns, accessed by a timber winder stair with turned balusters. The gallery houses the organ and steps give access to the second stage of the tower which has half-height panelling. The underside of the gallery is enclosed with etched glass panels to create a narthex and within this the main W door entrance has double-boarded doors.

PRESBYTERY: interior not inspected.

Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the two-storey rear extension and flat-roofed single-storey extension with porch to the presbytery are not of special architectural or historic interest.

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: County Durham, (1983), 270

Other
Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle : An Architectural and Historical Review, AHP 2012

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