Roman Catholic Church of St Peter and St Paul

Roman Catholic Church of St Peter and St Paul

A Roman Catholic church built between 1895 to designs of John Kelly of Leeds, in the Italianate style. The building is listed at Grade II.

The church is constructed of hard red brick laid in garden wall bond, with a slate roof. Although the building is oriented north-west to south-east, conventional liturgical orientations are used in the interior arrangement. The plan comprises a rectangular nave with a south-west porch, an apsidal sanctuary to the south-east, and a low apsidal baptistery to the west. An early 19th-century presbytery is attached to the north-east corner via a low link structure.

All windows and door openings throughout are round-headed. The exterior is detailed with a deep moulded eaves cornice, moulded impost and sill bands, and a chamfered plinth to all elevations. Iron cross finials crown the sanctuary, porch, and west end.

The apsidal sanctuary features arcading with moulded surrounds alternating with slim pilasters on its upper parts. The arcade rests on a sill band and is blind except for two side windows. Two large red sandstone blocks incorporated into the south-east corner of the nave may be the foundation stone. The south side of the nave is punctuated by four paired windows with moulded hoodmoulds, impost and sill bands, positioned high in the wall.

At the south-west corner, a projecting pedimented porch contains a full-height segmental-arched entrance set within a taller round-headed arch with three bands. Two small square sandstone blocks inscribed with cross motifs flank the entrance on either side. The entrance, reached by a pair of stone steps, has moulded reveals and replacement double wooden doors. Behind the porch rises a slightly projecting bellcote with moulded bands, short side buttresses, and a round-headed opening containing the original bell. The bellcote terminates in a moulded pediment, with the cornice and bands of the nave continuing over it.

The west end features a central low apsidal baptistery with three windows. Above are three large stepped windows, the central one breaking upward through the brick cornice into the pediment which spans the full width.

Interior

The apsidal sanctuary has a panelled dado with a continuous arcade above featuring round arches between pilasters. The side arches contain windows, while the five central arches display painted figures on metal plates: Saints Peter and Paul, Saint Anne and Our Lady as a child, The Sacred Heart, and Saint Joseph with the child Jesus. The half dome is decorated with painted plaster ribbing and rests on a moulded plaster cornice.

The main altar is considered to be the original late 19th-century work, ornately carved in timber with a front of three panels defined by carved pilasters with carved columns. The central tabernacle is similarly ornate, featuring twisted columns and decorative brass doors, intricately carved with cross and floral motifs. Other sanctuary furniture dates to the 20th century.

A side chapel at the east end of the north wall is entered through a double-arched opening supported on a Doric column and roofed with a lean-to decorated as the main nave roof. It now houses the organ and a timber altar added as a memorial in 1905. A six-panelled door leads through to the sacristy, which also served as the link to the presbytery but is now blocked.

The nave walls are plain plastered with panelled dadoes and moulded strings linking the sills and arch springs of the windows, with a moulded cornice at wall head. The windows are clear glazed and the floor is boarded. A timber-boarded barrel vault roof features painted small square coffering, each decorated with painted panels in the form of a cross motif set within a circle and an outer square. The Stations of the Cross, painted on metal plates, and the carved benches with roll-moulded tops are considered to be original late 19th-century work.

The west end contains a round-headed opening to the baptistery with decorative railings to the front. The half-dome roof, resting on a plaster cornice, features plaster ribbing and a moulded string linking the triple windows. The original round stone bowl font on a pedestal is retained.

The west porch has a timber-boarded ceiling, and the main entrance to the church is set within a tall round-headed arch with original six-panel double doors and period door furniture.

An early 20th-century parish hall is attached to the north-west corner but is excluded from the listing.