Church Of St Wilfrid

The Church of St Wilfrid is a Roman Catholic church, initially built in 1793 and significantly rebuilt between 1879 and 1880 by Ignatius Scoles and S.J. Nichols. The church is constructed from red brick with extensive buff terracotta cladding and dressings, and has a slate roof. It comprises a north-south oriented nave, east and west aisles, east chapels, and a south apse, designed in an Italian basilica style.

The church has six bays and tall aisles. A high plinth is dressed with sandstone, above which the walls are of rusticated terracotta, incorporating bands, a frieze, and a cornice of matching material. The gabled north front is tripartite, with the centre projecting slightly. It features a large round-headed doorway with an elaborate terracotta surround, including a tympanum with reliefs, and flanking side doors of similar design. Above the doorway is a large circular window flanked by monograms, set beneath an enriched pediment. Aisle windows are also present, each of two round-headed lights, with ornate terracotta surrounds. The west side of the church has high-set round-headed windows with similarly elaborate terracotta surrounds.

The interior features a basilica form, with colonnades of massive Corinthian columns in polished red marble, underpinned by square plinths of black marble. The ceiling is barrel-vaulted and coffered. The walls and apse are clad in marble, in a variety of colours, with giant Corinthian pilasters. Mosaic portraits of saints are positioned over the arcade leading to the chapels. A canted north gallery is present, featuring an ornamental cast-iron balustrade.