Roman Catholic Church of St Gerard Majella

Summary

Roman Catholic parish church. 1908-09. Designed by the architectural practice, Pugin & Pugin in a Gothic-Revival style which is predominantly Perpendicular. The extension to the sacristy and the attached presbytery, added in 1953-4, are not of special interest and are excluded from the listing.

Reasons for Designation

The Roman Catholic Church of St Gerard Majella in Knowle, Bristol, built in 1908-9 and designed by Pugin and Pugin, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: a good and well-executed example of an early C20 Gothic Revival church with good massing and crisp detailing, designed by Pugin and Pugin, a recognised firm of the period;
* Internal architectural interest: the internal space is well-handled with a tall nave and arcades and high quality carving and decorative details;
* Degree of survival: the church remains almost entirely unaltered since its completion retaining most of its high quality fixtures and fittings and stained glass.

History

In 1908 Bishop Burton invited the Redemptorists to establish a new mission at Knowle, then developing as a southern suburb of Bristol. The mission was dedicated to the C18 Redemptorist lay brother Gerard Majella, canonised by Pope Pius X in 1904, and a place of worship was set up in a shop on Jubilee Road. However, the Redemptorist congregation soon withdrew and the mission was handed over to the Benedictines of Douai. They acquired the present site, and a church designed by the architectural firm Pugin & Pugin (1851-1928), at the time of Cuthbert Welby Pugin and Sebastian Pugin Powell's partnership, was built by Stephens, Bastow & Co. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Burton on 20 March 1909 and the church was opened on 11 December by the Bishop, in the presence of the Abbot of Douai. The architectural drawings originally included a tower and a presbytery but these were not built.

By 1912, the glass in the east window, the font, the Stations of the Cross and the painting of St Gerard Majella had all been donated. The three Gothic altars were added in the 1920s.

The Benedictines handed the church over to the parish in 1935, and in 1937, the parish hall, designed by Roberts & Willman of Taunton, was built to the north. The presbytery, attached to the east end of the church, was built in 1953-4 to a simplified version of Pugin & Pugin’s original design. At this time the original iron and timber altar rails were replaced with stone, and the softwood pulpit replaced with oak. The timber forward altar, introduced following the Second Vatican Council, was replaced in stone in the 1980s, and a matching stone lectern was also installed.

Details

Roman Catholic parish church. 1908-09. Designed by the architectural practice, Pugin & Pugin in a Gothic-Revival style which is predominantly Perpendicular. The extension to the sacristy and the attached presbytery, both added in 1953-4, are not included in the listing.

MATERIALS: built of rock-faced, coursed Pennant stone with Bath stone dressings. The roof is covered in Westmorland slate tiles. C21 powder coated extruded aluminium rainwater goods, not of special interest. There are timber floorboards beneath the pews, whilst the circulation space is of terrazzo.

PLAN: the building is orientated on its ritual compass points, with the sanctuary at its east end. At the west end is the narthex, flanked by the porch and canted baptistery, with an organ gallery above, and leads into the six-bay nave. The lean-to aisles each have a chapel to their east end, and off the north aisle are two confessionals. The north door gives access to a corridor leading to the sacristy, with a staircase to the crypt below. The land, on which the church is built, slopes steeply from the west to the east allowing for a crypt at the eastern end which extends towards the west, and is visible to the side elevations.

EXTERIOR: the gabled west elevation, articulated by four offset buttresses, has a symmetrical arrangement comprising a central, paired lancet window with attenuated trefoils in the tracery. There are lower, lancet windows to either side. Below the central window is a canopied niche containing a stone statue of St Gerard Majella, with skull and crucifix, flanked by single-light windows with cusped heads. The moulded cill band continues to the other elevations. Slightly set-back, but continuing the composition of the west elevation, are the single-storey porch and baptistery. The porch to the left (north), has a gabled west entrance with pointed arch doorway, (there is an additional doorway on its east elevation); the granite foundation stone is set at a low level. The canted baptistery is to the right (south). Both the porch and baptistery incorporate carved, attenuated quatrefoils with Benedictine shields and emblems on their western flanks.

The side elevations have tripartite clerestorey and aisle windows; the aisle windows are separated by offset buttresses. The crypt is lit by paired quatrefoils to each bay.

The gabled east elevation has a circular window to the sanctuary and another to the set-back south chapel, both with rectilinear tracery at the centre and curvilinear tracery to the margins. Beneath is the entrance door to the crypt with dressed stone surround.

The sacristy is to the north-east corner of the church. It has a moulded eaves cornice and the north elevation has three single-light windows lighting the corridor leading from the church to the sacristy, which is lit by a four-light window. Each window is set within a square-headed opening with dressed stone surround. Below the sacristy, on the same level as the crypt, are segmental-headed windows, and a doorway. The south elevation is blind, apart from a segmental headed doorway to the ground floor. The original end wall is denoted by a gable end stack.

INTERIOR: the west entrance porch leads into the narthex which has a marble and mosaic holy water stoup set in a pink marble Gothic surround, installed after the First World War. Above, is a Della Robbia-style roundel of the Virgin and Child framed by a wreath. The narthex is separated from the nave by a timber and glazed screen with openwork timber organ gallery above. The C19 organ, built by John Nicholson, was originally installed at Malvern Boys School. To the south side of the narthex is the baptistery, with its octagonal stone font supported on marble columns. Separating both the baptistery and the porch from the aisles is a pair of pointed arches with a central column. The arches between the porch and the north aisle have been infilled.

The north and south aisle have lean-to, panelled roofs with stone corbels supporting the braces to the principal rafters. To the walls are fitted the Stations of the Cross, comprising painted panels in carved timber frames. There is a stained glass memorial window to the south aisle. Towards the east end of the north aisle is a painting of St Gerard Majella in an alabaster frame with Gothic detailing. There are two confessionals off the north aisle, each set behind a cambered arched recess with timber and leaded glass panelling. At the east end of the north aisle is the Lady Chapel. The Gothic altar (1929) has Perpendicular carving and the central statue of the Virgin Mary is set beneath a carved canopy with pinnacle, and flanked by Della-Robbia style panels of the Annunciation and the Nativity. The chapel at the east end of the south aisle is to St Benedict and the Holy Souls. The Gothic altar (1924) was designed by Frank Moore Jr, with stonework by Messrs R L Boulton & Sons of Cheltenham. The altar has pairs of Tuscan columns and a Perpendicular reredos with opus sectile panels made in Florence and depicting SS Benedict, Richard, Elizabeth of Hungary, Mary Magdalene, John and Sebastian. Above is the round stained glass window with curvilinear tracery, and to the south a stained glass memorial window (1924) depicting Judgement Day.

The nave has a six bay arcade of fluted arches with hoodmoulds, springing from cylindrical piers with moulded bases and capitals. Above are the tripartite clerestorey windows. The panelled wagon roof has arch-braced trusses supported on stone corbels. The sanctuary is similarly roofed. The stone altar rails to the sanctuary and side chapels were installed in the 1950s, along with the oak pulpit in the nave whilst the stone altar and lectern in the sanctuary are 1980s installations. The high altar (1925) is thought to be designed by Frank Moore Jr with the stonework by H H Martyn & Co. of Cheltenham. It comprises four pairs of octagonal columns (there are pairs of pilasters to the rear wall) with foliate carved capitals and spandrels. The spandrels include the coat of arms of King Edmund the Martyr and a representation of the Trinity. Above the altar is a tabernacle, and to either side of the altar is an aumbry and a piscina with Perpendicular-style carving. The mosaic panels to the reredos were made in Venice and depict six angels playing musical instruments. The central three cusped panels of the stained glass east window show St Benedict and St Gerard adoring the Sacred Heart, with surrounding curvilinear tracery.

The north door provides access to the corridor leading to the sacristy, which retains its cast iron fireplace and the staircase to the crypt beneath.

Sources

Books and journals
Little, B, Churches in Bristol, (1978), 39
Harding, J A, The Diocese of Clifton, 1850-2000, (1999), 74-5

Other
Kerby, M, The Parish of St Gerard Majella, Knowle, Bristol, 1909-2009
Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton. An Architectural and Historical Review, prepared for the Diocese of Clifton and Historic England by The Architectural History Practice. Jan 2016

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