Summary
Roman Catholic Church, 1968-1970, by Frederick King for Wood, Goldstraw and Yorath.
Reasons for Designation
St Gregory’s Roman Catholic Church, Longton is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* The church is a simple but striking design with fan-shaped nave by Frederick King under the firm of Wood, Goldstraw and Yorath;
* The church has a strong profile and is of good quality with careful attention to detail with brick diaper patterning, cross pattée bosses and curved sanctuary lit by the nave lantern;
* The church has seen relatively little alteration and retains architect-designed fittings including the aluminium Crucifixion situated within the sanctuary.
Historic interest:
* The interior plan of St Gregory with its open nave curving around the sanctuary reflects the recent implementation of the reforms under the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), a key influence in late-C20 Roman Catholic Church design.
History
St Gregory’s Roman Catholic Church was built in 1968-1970 to the designs of Frederick King of Wood, Goldstraw and Yorath.
A Catholic church was first established in Longton in 1819. A second, larger church, designed by E W Pugin, was built on the Heathcote Road site in 1869; mining subsidence resulted in its demolition almost a century later, in 1968. A new church, built on a concrete raft foundation, replaced the earlier building, and opened in 1970. The contract price of £98,332 was partially funded by compensation from the National Coal Board.
The firm of Wood, Goldstraw and Yorath originated in 1874, founded by Absalom Reade Wood, Surveyor to the Tunstall Urban District Council. The firm went through several titular changes before the present name was taken in 1940. Their local output is significant, including a variety of building types. Frederick Stanley King was the architect in charge of the scheme for St Gregory’s Church.
Details
Roman Catholic Church, 1968-1970, by Frederick King for Wood, Goldstraw and Yorath.
MATERIALS: a steel frame faced in hand-made red brick with concrete detailing and copper-clad roofs.
PLAN: the church stands on the north side of Heathcote Road. The main body of the building has a symmetrical plan form, with a semi-circular elevation creating a fan-shaped nave, with the rounded entrance-front facing south-east. Ancillary spaces are on the north-west side, and a presbytery adjoins the building on the south-east side.
EXTERIOR: a double-height, round-fronted building, with a full-height narthex and single-storey projections, and with single-storey ancillary accommodation at the rear. The wide narthex lobby curves around the south-east front of the building; it has a concrete frontispiece with narrow piers forming five recessed bays, topped by a series of open pediments forming a chevron parapet. On the ground floor the three central recessed openings between the piers have glazed double doors, and full-height glazing within the opening on either side. These stand slightly above ground level, reached by four steps running the length of the projection. Sheltering the entrances is a cantilevering canopy, and above, each bay contains a narrow five-light window with coloured leaded glass. Above each of the central three windows is a relief boss with a cross pattée. To either side the elevation continues in brick, with projecting headers forming a diaper pattern. The building line steps back to the main body of the church: a brick drum with concrete plat band and cornice. On each side, above the plat band, are four narrow five-light windows, and below is a single-storey flat-roofed block, with three square casements in concrete-framed openings. The roof is flat, and has an oblong lantern terminating above the centre-point of the circular plan, surmounted by a cross pattée.
At the rear of the main body of the church are a number of single-storey flat-roofed blocks, with a central square chimney. Windows on the rear, and on the presbytery, are casements in wide openings; most have been replaced. The presbytery is a two-storey rectangular block with a flat roof, and a higher tower at the rear. The south elevation, facing onto Heathcote Road, has wide strip windows with concrete details. Entrance to the presbytery is through a pair of glazed double doors recessed beneath an overhanging roof at the junction with the main body of the church.
INTERIOR: the nave is focussed on the sanctuary, which projects as a raised peninsula from the rear wall of the fan-shaped space. Echoing the shape of the lantern above, the sanctuary is an oblong with a rounded end at the centre-point of the drum. Timber pews, following the curve of the sanctuary, radiate outwards. Behind the sanctuary is an aluminium Crucifixion, designed by the architects, and lit from above by the clerestory glazing of the lantern. There are brasses with a figure and inscription to Fr Edward Daniel, the first priest (d 1856), understood to have been taken from the old church. On the ceiling of the nave the encased ribs of the roof structure radiate outwards from the lantern. On the right-hand side is a glazed-in Lady Chapel.
