Roman Catholic Church of St Cuthbert by the Forest, including detached campanile

Roman Catholic Church of St Cuthbert by the Forest

This Roman Catholic church was built between 1953 and 1955 to the design of Francis Xavier Velarde. It is constructed in Blockley Park Royal brick laid in stretcher bond with artificial stone dressings, and roofed with handmade Staffordshire tiles. The design draws on Arts and Crafts influences alongside simplified Gothic and Germanic references. A detached campanile stands to the south-east of the church building.

The church is set back from Station Road on a raised plot and is oriented east-west, with an apsidal sanctuary at the west end. The building is small, designed to accommodate 72 worshippers.

The west end elevation features a twin-gabled narthex lit by two diamond-shaped windows, with the nave rising behind it. The nave's gable end is adorned with a large cross erected for the church's Golden Jubilee. The main entrance is on the north side of the narthex: a pointed-arched opening containing boarded double doors. The three-bay nave has battered buttresses and is lit by paired metal lancet windows containing clear and tinted Cathedral glass, separated by artificial stone mullions carved with angel figures. Three decorative mast-like cross finials surmount the nave's ridge.

The pitched-roofed sacristy projects from the south side of the nave. Its south gable end has a square-headed doorway in the centre flanked by slender square-headed windows with angled sills. The west wall has a similarly styled window, whilst the east wall has three broader square-headed windows with carved mullions matching those of the nave. A chimneystack rises from the sacristy's south-west corner. The apsidal sanctuary's east end is windowless, but the north and south sides are lit by paired windows in the same style as the nave.

The detached campanile, added in 1954, is nearly 44 feet tall and tapers slightly. It contains a stone bell cote with loudspeakers for an electronic bell system, and is surmounted by a copper-clad pyramidal roof with a tall cross finial. The campanile's entrance, on the south side opposite the church's main entrance, consists of a pointed-arched opening with boarded double doors. A Pieta that was originally planned for the campanile's west face was never installed.

The interior has exposed brick walls of Buckley Junction mixed-grey rustics and exposed side purlins and rafters to plastered ceilings in both the nave and apse. The aisleless nave is defined by two wide diaphragm arches, with a further arch at the entrance to the sanctuary. The window mullions are decorated with carved angels, matching the exterior treatment. Two pointed-arched openings in the nave's west wall lead into the narthex, which comprises a tiny chapel and a small vestibule accessed via modern glazed doors.

The carved-timber Stations of the Cross in the nave were made in the South Tyrol and were funded by individual parishioners. The bench pews are a late 20th-century addition, replacing earlier seating arrangements. The church originally had chairs brought in from elsewhere.

At the eastern end of the nave's south side are two square-headed doorways with panelled doors and artificial stone lintels, each carved with three simplified Patee crosses. The left door leads into the largely modernised sacristy; the right leads into a former confessional now used for storage. Some furnishings, including the font and lectern, were installed in the early 21st century.

The sanctuary is carpeted, though the original terrazzo floor may survive beneath. The altar was moved forward in 1976, at which time its base was narrowed and the altar platform was removed to improve sight lines between congregation and priest. Attached to the apse's east wall behind the altar is a stone bracketed shelf produced by Manchester sculptors Alberti, Lupton & Co, added in 1976 and surmounted by a tabernacle. Smaller timber shelves with scrolled brackets arranged in a stepped pattern flank the stone shelf on each side and are surmounted by candlesticks.

The ground floor of the campanile is now used for storage.