Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart

Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart

This Roman Catholic church, built between 1935 and 1936, stands on Forbes Road in Sheffield and is designed in the Romanesque Revival style by the architect C M Hadfield.

History and Context

The church's origins lie in the early 20th century. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the local Catholic population attended Mass at Owlerton Barracks, but when civilians were no longer able to access the barracks chapel, the Sacred Heart primary school (opened in 1903) became a temporary venue for Mass. In 1920, Reverend Robert Dunford was appointed parish priest to the newly established parish of Sacred Heart. He built a temporary church which opened in 1921. Dunford subsequently purchased a property for a presbytery and secured a site on Forbes Road for a permanent church building. The foundation stone was laid on 7 July 1935 by Bishop Cowgill of Leeds, and the church was officially opened by the Archbishop of Liverpool, Richard Downey, on 25 March 1936. The building accommodated 500 people and cost £13,000, of which £10,000 was donated by Mrs Wake, a widow. The builders were W G Robson Ltd. The church was dedicated on 7 March 1947. Philip Lindsey Clarke designed the relief sculptures, and Eric Newton of the Oppenheimer workshop in Manchester designed the mosaic reredos behind the high altar. In July 1953, the church received a new Portland stone font and baptistry screen, and in 1961, Father Farrell commissioned Eric Newton to add mosaics to the side chapels to commemorate the church's Silver Jubilee. In the late 20th century, a new forward altar was created by cutting down the original high altar and using the stone and green marble in its construction and a tabernacle stand, replacing a temporary oak altar that had been placed in front of the high altar in 1966.

The Architect

Charles Matthew Ellison Hadfield (1867–1949) belonged to the Sheffield-based Hadfield architectural dynasty, being the son of Charles Hadfield and grandson of Matthew Ellison Hadfield. He took into partnership with his father in 1897, working as C and C M Hadfield until his father's death in 1916. He then ran an independent practice until Robert Cawkwell (1894–1968) became a partner in 1924. C M Hadfield retired in 1937, though the firm continued as Hadfield & Cawkwell until 1946. The Hadfield family were Roman Catholics and designed a significant number of Catholic churches, schools and convents.

Exterior

The church is constructed of red brick with brown brick and ashlar dressings and features a plain tile roof. It has a plinth and coped parapets.

The building comprises a chancel with an apse, side chapels, transepts, vestries, a nave with a clerestory and aisles, a west tower, and porches.

The chancel has five incised string courses, with three windows on either side. Below them are windowless square side chapels. The apse is windowless. The square-ended transepts each have a large round window and, to the west, a single window. The south transept has a single-storey vestry with two sets of three windows. The north transept has to the west a square projection with three flat-headed windows containing confessionals. The clerestory contains eleven windows on each side, arranged as a single window, three groups of three windows, and a single window. The aisles are windowless. The north side has an off-centre canted baptistry, also windowless. The windows throughout are mainly metal-framed casements.

The west tower comprises three stages with corner pilasters forming panelled sides, stepped cheeks to the north and south, and a deep parapet. The ground stage has a central round-arched west doorway with a projecting brick surround and an ashlar central pier with relief carving, flanked by double board doors. The Portland stone relief carving in the tympanum is by Philip Lindsey Clarke and depicts the Marian Apparitions at Lourdes, including depictions of the architect C M Hadfield and Canon Dunford, parish priest and builder of the church. Above the doorway are two windows. The second stage has two flat-headed windows to the north and south faces. The bell stage has three round-arched louvred openings to the east and west faces and two similar openings to the north and south faces. Flanking the tower are single square porches with round-arched openings to the west and on either side, with corresponding inner doorways. The north and south openings have brick balustrades. To the north side is a single-storey corridor linked to the Presbytery.

Interior

The nave and chancel have a continuous cross beam ceiling. The sanctuary features a large mosaic reredos of the Sacred Heart by Eric Newton, with a recessed tabernacle. The chancel has a round-arched recess on each side opening into the side chapels. The side chapels have segmental east ends with Portland stone sculptured figures by Philip Lindsey Clarke and panelled ceilings with rooflights. The transepts have round arches to the east opening into the side chapels, and above them are mosaic panels by Eric Newton of 1961. The south transept end has a figure niche, and the north transept end has a round-arched recess with double doors to the vestries.

The nave features five-bay round-arched arcades to narrow side passages, which have blind arcades. At the west end are projecting single bays with round-arched doorways. The north-east side has panelled double doors with a blank overlight leading to the confessionals. The north side has the baptistry entrance with a wrought-iron screen and overthrow. The west end has three round arches: the larger central one with double doors and an overlight, and flanking ones with single doors. Above is a gallery with a round-arched wooden balustrade. The entrance lobby has doors on three sides and a cast-iron spiral stair to the gallery.

The church's fittings include an octagonal stone font with a panelled octagonal wooden canopy topped with a spire supported by volutes, dating from 1953; teak benches; and a plain octagonal panelled pulpit and lectern. The church contains no memorials.