Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady Help of Christians, including sign and boundary wall

Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady Help of Christians, including sign and boundary wall

A Roman Catholic church built between 1966 and 1967, designed by Richard Gilbert Scott of Giles Scott, Son and Partner, with coloured glass windows created by John Chrestien.

The structure consists of a reinforced concrete frame infilled with Flemish bond brickwork, topped with a copper-coated felt roof. The church follows a T-shaped plan with an octagonal baptistry and Lady Chapel positioned in the angles, a central entrance porch, and a sacristy to the rear of the sanctuary.

The exterior displays low brick walls and exposed concrete beams, oversailed by a jagged-edge porch and dominated by a soaring roof whose ribs curve upward to form a broad central tower. The baptistry and Lady Chapel each have identical bell-shaped roofs with lanterns, although the Lady Chapel's lantern has been replaced with uPVC framed glazing. Narrow vertical bands and angles throughout the church are filled with coloured glass, including large full-height coloured glass windows in both the baptistry and Lady Chapel. Timber double doors are used throughout, with planking set at complementary angles and square bronze handles.

Inside, a foundation stone behind the sanctuary records: "This stone was laid by the Right Reverend Joseph F. Cleary, Bishop of Cresima, V.G. on the fifteenth day of September 1966 A.M.D.G." The altar sits in the central crossing beneath the open roof, where upward-curved ribs resembling swept curtains dominate the high space and lead to a central timber-framed ceiling. This effect is emphasised by the exposed chunky, angled concrete frame with aggregate panels. Between the three main roof vaults are clerestory glazing panels filled with bright coloured glass by John Chrestien. His work also fills the baptistry and Lady Chapel. The nave and chapels contain bespoke timber bench seating and frontals. The sanctuary is stepped in white marble and includes a carved marble altar, ambo and reserved sacrament. Suspended above the sanctuary is a crucifix in metal and timber (artist unknown), framed by narrow vertical coloured glass windows in deep scarlet.

The octagonal baptistry and Lady Chapel feature an exposed timber and steel-framed roof with central lantern. The baptistry contains an octagonal, cone-shaped marble font at its centre, surrounded by a decorative marble floor. Chrestien's large coloured glass window, predominantly in red and blue, depicts the Christian symbol of the fish with an abstract motif above. The Lady Chapel has bronze and timber glazed doors and a white marble altar of similar design to the main altar. Behind it stands a large plain marble reredos with a figure of Our Lady on a small plinth. Chrestien's large coloured glass window depicts the lion of St Mark, symbolising Christian victory over the Mohammedan Turks at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, in whose memory Pope Pius V established the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians.

The nave and transept walls contain stations of the cross executed as bronze-framed coloured mosaic, with large Roman numerals in bronze at the corners (artist unknown). Confessionals in the side transept feature coloured glass and timber doors.

A low concrete sign on a brick base, approximately 0.3 metres high and 5 metres long, stands to the right of the entrance as shown on Scott's plans, though the original lettering has been covered with a new sign. The church is set back from the road and screened by a red brick wall approximately 2 metres high and 45 metres long, with integrated sections of railings and entrances at either end, probably constructed as part of the scheme in the late 1960s.