Church Of St Alban

The Church of St Alban is a Roman Catholic church designed in 1838 and built between 1839 and 1841 by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. It is constructed from coursed and squared rubble with ashlar dressings and has a Welsh slate roof. The plan includes an unfinished west tower, a nave with a high clerestory and two aisles, and a chancel. The church is executed in the Perpendicular style.

The unfinished west tower features a deeply moulded doorway with a five-light window above, and a stilted arched light in the upper stage flanked by statues in niches. Clasping buttresses and a stair turret are set into the southeast angle. The nave has a steep roof over the clerestory. Lean-to aisles are present, with the south aisle divided by buttresses and featuring a gabled porch with shafts to a deeply moulded archway. A north aisle and projecting confessional booths are largely concealed behind the adjacent presbytery. A statue is positioned over the south doorway. Angel corbels, spanning the western angles of the aisles, carry statues within traceried niches clasped between buttresses. The shallow chancel has four-light windows to the north and south, and a seven-light east window. All gables have coped tops with cross finials. A single-story vestry is situated in the northeast angle.

The interior features a five-bay arcade with slender, clustered shafts carrying Perpendicular arches. The clerestory has a ten-window design, with each window consisting of two lights. The roof is a king post and collar structure with arched braces and wind braces. Tall Perpendicular arches define the west tower and chancel, and are painted. A choir gallery and organ loft are incorporated into the tower. An open-work chancel screen carries a rood. The high chancel has a coloured tiled floor and an ornate altar piece featuring an advanced central statue within an aedicule over the tabernacle, serving as the centerpiece of the altar, with twelve figures of saints arranged on each side. Traceried sedilia are located to the south. Stained glass is present in the east window, depicting a central figure and related emblematic imagery. A chapel to the southeast features a painted Perpendicular arch and wall decorations including stencilled monograms and emblems to dado height. The altar piece here includes a statue in a niche flanked by high relief panels illustrating scenes from the Life of Mary, with corresponding stained glass in the window above, also dedicated to the Life of Mary. Painted text forms the hoodmould to this window. There is also a recessed altar at the east end of the north aisle, with three statues in traceried niches beneath a small high window featuring stained glass. A pulpit, added in 1850 by Edward Welby Pugin, is square in plan, incorporating traceried panels and statues within niches. This church is considered a work of exceptional interest among the productions of this notable architect.