Roman Catholic Church Of St Chad

The Roman Catholic Church of St. Chad is a church dedicated to St. Chad. It was originally built as a chapel in 1791, designed by John Ashton, and was extended between 1857 and 1868 with the addition of a new nave, sanctuary, and church tower. The sanctuary was further extended in 1888, replacing the earlier apsidal structure. After suffering severe fire damage in 1959, the interior was altered.

The church is constructed of coursed sandstone with a plinth of large blocks, featuring stone quoins and dressings, and has a slate roof with stone gable copings. It has a cruciform plan, with the nave added in 1896 to the south side of the original chapel, which now forms wide transepts, and a chancel on the north side. A short tower is located at the south end of the nave, which incorporates an entrance porch at the ground floor.

The nave has two windows at the south end flanking the tower and three on each side. The transepts have one window in the south wall and two in the gable walls. All these windows are tall and round-headed, featuring jamb stones and voussoirs, in a vernacular style similar to pre-Emancipation chapels, although the glazing has been altered. The tower has round-headed openings in an Italianate style, with simple doorways on each side set in tall shallow recesses that have moulded semi-circular heads containing circular windows. Below these are small triple-windows with round-headed lights, and the upper stage of the tower is a belfry with two louvred openings on each side, also with moulded semi-circular heads, linked by an impost band. The roof of the tower is low-pitched and pyramidal, with projecting eaves.

Inside, although altered since the fire, the transept arcades remain, featuring three rounded arches with hoodmoulds supported by polished columns with octagonal caps. In the baptistery, there is an embroidered sampler dated 1846, depicting "Southill Chapel" as it was at that time.