Roman Catholic Church of St Michael and All Angels

Roman Catholic Church of St Michael and All Angels

This Roman Catholic church was designed by Richard O'Mahony and built between 1964 and 1965. It is constructed with ribbed reinforced-concrete walls and features a tall tent-like, steel-framed roof as its dominant architectural feature.

The church is aligned east-west and has a T-shaped plan with a nave and transepts arranged to focus on the sanctuary, allowing the congregation to be seated on three sides of the altar. The sacristy infills the T-shape on the south side. The church is located at the south-east end of an axial route through the Woodchurch housing estate known as Home Farm Road, which links this church with the Anglican Holy Cross Church (of 12th-century origins, Grade II*) situated at the road's north-western end.

The church is dominated by its tall tent-like steel-framed roof structure, which springs from the building's corners in a series of folded planes that terminate above the altar. The roof rises to a height of 83 feet above the sanctuary and is a landmark visible from the neighbouring M53 motorway. It is clad externally with aluminium and incorporates lighting louvres on the front west face that direct light down onto the sanctuary. The roof also incorporates a narrow horizontal opening at the bottom of the east face that directs light onto the Blessed Sacrament Chapel behind the altar. A Potent-cross shaped pierced opening exists at the roof's apex. The church's ribbed reinforced-concrete walls incorporate a narrow clerestory band that gives the appearance of the roof floating. The main west entrance consists of a glazed wall and entrance doors, which have been replaced in weathered enamel and lead into the narthex.

Inside, the church has brown and blue quarry-tiled floors throughout, with wall surfaces of white-painted plaster and concrete. The church originally had under-floor heating, but this system subsequently failed and is no longer in use. The narthex spans the full width of the nave and is sub-divided laterally into a series of spaces separated by concrete walls connected by an open enfilade. One side wall bears the church's RIBA bronze medal, and the southernmost section of the rear east wall incorporates a narrow horizontal glazing band lighting the nave. Two sets of double doors at the centre of the narthex's east wall lead into the main body of the church. The roof is clad internally with Finnish timber, and the ceilings of the nave and transepts are adorned with scattered panels depicting angels and religious symbols.

The former baptistery is located at the northern end of the narthex and is accessed via the nave. An octagonal concrete light shaft with niches in its side walls containing supplementary lighting originally projected light down onto a Mourne-granite font below. However, the font has since been moved to the south side of the sanctuary, and the baptistery is now used as a shop. On the south side of the nave are three confessionals lit by square rooflights. Set towards the eastern end of the nave's south side is a full-height tower-like structure constructed of dark-grey and black brick that breaks through the roofline externally and is framed by glazed openings. Internally, the tower incorporates a recess set high up the north face that was originally intended to act as an organ loft, though an organ was never installed. A small concrete base projects from the lower part of the tower's north wall and is surmounted by a life-size sculpture by Norman Dilworth entitled 'Mother and Child' with gold-coloured, textured, abstract backdrop panels behind.

The adjacent south transept is used as a day chapel and has a simple timber altar located on the west side. The north transept contains a 19th-century organ in a Gothic-style case that was donated to the church in the 1990s. The roof's louvred west face is designed to bring light directly down onto the sanctuary and make it the most well-lit space in the church. The main altar sits upon a carpeted stepped platform and is of Mourne granite, as is the lectern, which lies to the north side of the sanctuary. Located behind the sanctuary and separated from it by a concrete dwarf wall incorporating a double-depth band of glazed bricks is a small Blessed Sacrament Chapel. The chapel's altar is of the same granite as the church's other furnishings and is surmounted by a square silver tabernacle with a pyramidal top and cross finial designed by Francis Xavier Velarde; the tabernacle is positioned so that it can be seen upon entering the church. The sacristy is located on the south side of the church and retains original built-in cupboards.