Roman Catholic Church of the Annunciation, attached presbytery and former school

Roman Catholic Church of the Annunciation, attached Presbytery and former School

A Catholic church begun in 1852 to the designs of Joseph Hansom, altered and substantially enlarged in the late 19th century, with 20th and 21st century reordering and refurbishment. An attached Presbytery and former School date to 1866 and 1868 respectively, designed by Samuel Rollinson.

The church, presbytery and parish centre are constructed of coursed buff rubble stone with ashlar quoins and window dressings, beneath slate roofs. The rear ranges of the presbytery and parish centre are built of red brick.

The church has a rectangular plan oriented on a roughly north-south axis, comprising a tower above a narthex to the south end, a central nave with aisles to either side, and a sacristy, chancel and lady chapel to the northern end. The presbytery adjoins the church at its northernmost corner and has a roughly square footprint with short projecting ranges to the east and west sides. The parish centre projects to the west of the church, with two-storey ranges forming a T-shaped plan and a square single-storey range infilling the west corner.

The church exterior features a broad rectangular south tower with a hipped slate roof and a hexagonal corner turret to the east, topped with a short spire and containing five levels of slit windows to its south face. Above the upper string course of the tower is a band of Gothic windows. The first floor of the south side of the tower features a large pointed arched window with geometric tracery flanked by buttresses, while the ground floor contains a pair of lancet windows with single lancets to either side. Either side of the tower are two gabled porches featuring Gothic arch doorways with stepped reveals, planked timber doors with decorative strapwork, and arched two-light windows above each doorway and on the south sides of both porches.

The nave features a partial apse extended to the north with a lower level pitched roof. Below the apsidal roof is a row of quatrefoil clerestory windows. The storey below projects forward below a lean-to roof and features two tripartite windows with decorated tracery either side of a central buttress. The aisles are expressed externally as rows of four transverse gabled bays with two-light windows, the southernmost slightly larger than the rest with a tripartite window, all featuring decorated tracery. The Lady Chapel is articulated with a row of six lancet windows, the second and fifth blind, separated by moulded column jambs.

To the south end of the church interior is a narthex featuring marble-like columns and a scheme of stained glass dating to around 2000, made to the designs of Michael Murphy. The glazed timber screens appear to be 20th century. Above this, the west gallery houses the organ by Henry Willis Senior with two sets of organ pipes flanking the south window.

The colonnaded aisles curve into the centre of the nave, straightening out again towards the chancel. The timbered ceiling features trusses springing from clerestory height. Within the nave is a carved stone font and richly coloured marble statuary, including a canopy thought to have been part of the late 19th century high altar, attributed to Sebastien Pugin Powell. The church's statuary includes a figure of St Patrick by A.B. Wall of Cheltenham (1889), a Sacred Heart by Mayer of Munich, a white marble Pietà after Michelangelo and a marble statue of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. The mosaic Stations of the Cross possibly date to 1921 by the Benedict Ecclesiastical Art Company, which also supplied the war memorial. Several late 19th and early 20th century stained-glass windows are attributed to Hardman. The intricately carved reredos features statues set beneath ornate gilded canopies. A double colonnade separates the sanctuary from the Lady Chapel, which features decorative brass and ironwork altar rails. Painted images and motifs appear on the ceilings of both the sanctuary and Lady Chapel, and above the chancel arch.

The presbytery's principal frontage faces east and features a central gabled porch above an arched timber part-glazed door. The porch abuts a slightly projecting rectangular range which features a corner window set within a niche supported by a slender stone column with an ornately carved capital. Two sets of ground-floor windows are grouped in threes, with plain sashes within quoined stone surrounds. There are two pairs of sash windows to the first floor above the string course, both beneath gabled dormers, and a single sash window above the porch. A stone stack sits within the south-east slope of the roof. The red-brick west elevation has two gables and features ashlar quoins and window surrounds, with a single-storey canted bay to the north. No features of interest were observed in the presbytery interior.

The principal elevation of the parish centre former school faces south and features a half-hipped gable and stair tower with pyramidal roof and dentil eaves course. The ground floor features an entrance door with quatrefoil top lights and a decoratively carved stone plaque above. There are four four-over-four ground-floor sash windows set within stone surrounds. The first-floor windows are set within the gable: the upper two have arched heads with two trefoil lights above, while the lower central windows have decoratively carved heads with two narrow windows to either side. The string courses and lancet windows to the upper storey of the stair tower are staggered. The west side of the south elevation is constructed of coursed rubble stone to the ground floor with a rendered first floor. The two-storey red-brick range to the north features four-over-four sashes beneath segmental brick heads. A 20th century single-storey brick range to the west beneath a shallow pitched roof is not included in the listing.

Within the original school range the ground-floor ceiling is supported by timber brackets resting on corbels. The staircase has stone steps and a metal handrail.