Church Of The Holy Cross

Church of the Holy Cross

A Roman Catholic church built between 1957 and 1959, designed by Francis X Velarde. The building is constructed in brown brick and ashlar with plain tile roofs. The ritual east, used throughout the church, faces compass south-west.

The exterior comprises a large narthex or porch with an attached north-west baptistry and south-west tower, nave and chancel under a single roof. The nave has arcades and side aisles, while the chancel features a curved apse with an attached Lady Chapel.

The west front features a gabled rectangular porch faced in ashlar, accessed by a flight of six steps. A central doorway with double wooden doors is flanked by 12-light windows with alternating round-headed and square-headed lights. The corners are topped with square pinnacles and plain cross finials. Set back to either side are linking corridors, both with similar 12-light windows with alternating lights. The small rectangular baptistry has a doorway with a diamond-patterned door and a circular glass lantern above with a conical copper roof.

The square tower has a plain brick base and an ashlar bell stage with five round-headed openings to each face, topped by a pyramidal copper roof. The south side features an aisle with four 20-light windows, with a projecting single-storey Lady Chapel beyond, ending in an apsidal form. The eastern end has an ambulatory that continues the nave side aisles with pairs of boarded windows. The upper apse contains five 15-light windows with alternating round-headed and flat lights. The north side has four 15-light windows with similar alternating lights.

The interior contains seven-bay nave arcades which continue around the eastern apse. The columns are clad in white mosaic tiling and the plain arches are clad in polished marble, with a single continuous marble band above and fluted wall above that. The wooden roof is coffered and gilded. The nave contains original wooden pews. The chancel is raised six steps and holds a stone font, moved from the baptistry, with a battered square base and simple shallow bowl topped with a wooden cover. The original stone altar stands three further steps up. Beyond the ambulatory, metal screens and gates give access to parish rooms.

The western porch has walls clad in large black and white squares made of mosaic tiles, decorated with gold crosses. The former baptistry features red and white squares set diagonally in mosaic tiles, decorated with gold fish. The apsidal Lady Chapel has turquoise blue mosaic tile walls with a gold diamond pattern and a mosaic depicting the Virgin and Child surrounded by angels.

This was the last of Velarde's churches built in his lifetime and was his personal favourite. It demonstrates a distillation of Romanesque and modern motifs that is unique in his work. Even at the end of his career, he remained inventive and continued to seek new expressions for his ideas on church design. The church is largely unaltered and retains its rich variety of materials and fittings, including the highly decorative tiling, original wooden pews, stone font and altar.