Church Of St Cuthbert (Roman Catholic)

Church of St Cuthbert (Roman Catholic)

This Roman Catholic church is built of coursed rubble stone with ashlar dressings, Welsh slate roofs, coped gables, and terracotta ridge tiles. The building is aligned north-west to south-east and comprises a nave with side aisles beneath separate roofs, a single-storey narthex with an octagonal baptistry at the south-east (ritual west) end, a polygonal apse to the chancel, and gabled confessionals and side chapels at the north-western ends of each side aisle.

Exterior

The nave and chancel sit beneath a single steep roof. Windows throughout feature ashlar surrounds and leaded glazing, some with stained glass. The south-east elevation is dominated by a single-storey lean-to narthex in front, centred on a Gothic-arched doorway with double plank doors and carved angel imposts. This doorway is flanked by single lancets set within pointed brick arches, with a gableted buttress to the right and a graduated triple lancet window set within a wide pointed brick arch further right. To the far left of the narthex stands a single-storey octagonal baptistry with a polygonal roof and two-light pointed-arched windows to each face. Above and behind the narthex rises a gabled nave front surmounted by a stone cross finial. A large four-light ritual west window with cusped tracery and stained glass displays an attached statue of Christ on the cross, flanked by two smaller blind cusped lancets all within a wide pointed brick arch. The gable is flanked by two single octagonal turrets with short stone spires rising to the same height as the nave apex.

The north-east end return of the narthex facing Wilmer Road features a coped gable containing a Gothic-arched doorway with double plank doors, surmounted by an Iona cross finial and flanked by short square turrets with graduated pyramidal roofs and gableted buttresses.

The buttressed single-storey side aisles are lit by small chamfered lancets. Above them runs a clerestory with five graduated triple-lancet ashlar windows to each side, set within pointed brick arches. An octagonal turret to the north-east side breaks through the nave roof at the junction between nave and chancel, incorporating a bellcote and conical red tiled roof.

Two gables with gableted buttresses mark the north-west end of the north-east side aisle. The left gable projects forward slightly and contains confessionals; the right gable contains the Lady Chapel and is slightly larger, lit by stained glass sexfoils to its north-east side and north-west end return. Further confessionals and a side chapel occupy the south-west side aisle without gables, though the side chapel is lit by two sexfoils.

The chancel features a single three-light pointed-arched window to its north-east side in the same style as the clerestory windows. The octagonal apse is lit by five tall stained glass lancets. A single-storey enclosed link containing the sacristy connects the north-west end of the church to an attached presbytery, which is listed separately.

Interior

The nave and side aisles have tiled and floorboard floors with original wooden pews. Boarded and painted ceilings run throughout except the chancel, which has painted plaster ceilings with ribs (some corbelled) decorated with plaster crosses and foliate ornament, and a central roundel depicting a cross. Original painted and stencilled decoration to the church interior is now painted over.

The stained glass, including that in the nave, side aisles, baptistry, and Lady Chapel, is mostly later work by Leonard Walker (1877-1964). The original chancel windows are dedicated to the Fattorini family, well-known Bradford jewellers.

Gothic-arched nave arcades are supported on coloured marble columns with ornate carved capitals. An ornate carved timber screen painted white stands in the south corner with decorative wrought iron gates, leading into the baptistry. The baptistry contains a marble and stone font beneath a ceiling of painted plaster with slender applied ribs.

A tall carved panel by Eric Gill depicting St Anthony holding an infant Jesus aloft is attached to the wall of the south-west side aisle in front of the baptistry entrance, with a stone shelf below.

Fourteen low-relief Stations of the Cross, carved between 1920 and 1924 from Beer stone by Eric Gill with the assistance of Desmond Chute, are embedded within the walls of the side aisles. They feature contrasting red lettering with Christ's nimbus picked out in gilding. Those in the north-east aisle incorporate Latin inscriptions, while those in the south-west aisle incorporate Greek inscriptions, all chosen by Gill and Father O'Connor.

Two confessionals stand towards the north-western end of each side aisle, featuring decorative carved panelled doors with stained leaded glazing and a crocketed pinnacled balustrade above. An organ occupies the south-east end of the north-east side aisle.

Paired arched openings at the north-west end of each side aisle lead into the Lady Chapel, side chapel, and adjacent inner passageways connecting to the sacristy and presbytery.

The chancel arch is supported by short corbelled columns and flanked by two statues on tall stone plinths. The left statue (1940-2), carved from Red Mansfield stone, depicts St Joseph holding an infant Jesus, designed by Gill and carved by May Bateman of Edinburgh. The right statue (1937-8), also of Red Mansfield stone, shows the Madonna in 'The Annunciation', carved by Eric Gill. The figure depicts Mary as a mill girl with her head raised to receive the angel Gabriel's message, her right hand placed on her womb, referencing Mary's title as the 'Handmaid of the Lord'. This work was exhibited at the Royal Academy's summer exhibition in 1938, with Gill's daughter Joanna modelling for the preparatory drawings.

An ornate carved, painted and gilded timber altar rail with an integral octagonal pulpit sits below the chancel arch. Large arched openings immediately behind the chancel arch to each side contain carved and pierced timber screens with crocketed-arched upper panels.

A series of blind pointed arches with columned surrounds runs around the chancel. A later inserted doorway pierces one arch on the south-west side; the arch to the north-east side contains two credence shelves and a piscina. Triple-arched sedilia occupy the north-east side of the chancel. Five tall eastern lancets above the blind arches also feature columned surrounds. A carved stone altar stands at the centre of the chancel, with two short altar pillars that originally formed part of the altar structure marking the position of the tabernacle.