Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel and St Gregory the Great

Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel and St Gregory the Great

A Roman Catholic parish church built in 1933–4, designed by Philip Chatwin in the neo-Georgian style and constructed by Maddox & Walford of Gravelly Hill. The building is steel-framed and faced in red brick laid in Flemish bond, with brick and stone dressings. The roofs are covered in double Roman tiles and the windows are metal-framed.

The building's ritual east end is positioned at the northern end, though ritual compass points are used throughout. The nave and sanctuary sit under a single roof, with a narthex and organ gallery above at the west end. To the south side are a tower, Lady Chapel, and sacristry.

The west elevation comprises three bays with raised brick quoins to the corners, repeated on the set-forward central bay. The recessed central entrance is flanked by three single-light stained glass windows. Above the entrance is a niche containing a stone statue of St Gregory the Great, framed by a stone aedicule with a segmental pediment. Beneath is an octagonal opus sectile panel depicting the papal arms. The flanking bays contain 24-light windows. A pedimented gable has an oculus in the tympanum. Attached to the right is a double-height lean-to with an additional west entrance; above this doorway is a further opus sectile panel depicting the Virgin and Child. The lean-to continues across the south elevation and wraps around a square tower with pyramidal roof. Each of the tower's four sides has a round-arched belfry opening with keystone. To the south face of the lean-to is a brick flue serving the boiler house at the base of the tower. Further south are a single-storey lean-to with central door flanked by glazed panels, a single-storey Lady's Chapel with pitched roof, and another lean-to at the right-hand end housing the sacristry. The side elevations are of seven bays, articulated by brick pilasters positioned at the steel stanchions; on the south side these are mostly overlaid by the tower, chapel, and lean-tos. The north elevation has a shallow projection in the fourth bay from the west for an internal shrine, incorporating the foundation stone at its centre. Window surrounds are of rubbed brick.

The interior features a shallow barrel-vaulted ceiling over the nave and sanctuary with plastered transverse ribs. The narthex with organ gallery above has an oak-panelled front supported on oak-panelled piers with wrought iron grilles and doors. The nave comprises six bays, articulated by plaster Doric pilasters sitting on dado-height oak panelling. Wooden carvings of the Stations of the Cross are fixed to the pilasters. Each bay's clerestory window is of 24-lights with coloured glass, with cornice and cill supported on brackets. In the fourth bay (north side) is an oak and gilded shrine to the Sacred Heart set within a richly carved open-pedimented surround. The north-east corner of the nave contains an oak-panelled pulpit. Double pilasters on each side of the nave mark the entrance to the chancel, which has a balustraded oak communion rail with metal gates. The chancel's vaulted ceiling is coffered with rosettes; the floor is wood block and marble. The marble font, originally beneath a stained glass window in the narthex depicting the Baptism of Our Lord, has been relocated to the sanctuary. At the east end is a panelled oak reredos with Corinthian pilasters and an elaborate oak baldachino supported on Corinthian columns, all with gilded detail, mounted on a black and grey marble base. The marble altar has been moved forward. The south wall of the sanctuary contains a marble piscina and a door to the sacristry. The two-room sacristry has a wood block floor and a modern roof-light.

The south side of the nave contains a south porch with confessional to the left of the lobby, the Lady Chapel, and a further confessional. The three-bay Lady Chapel, accessed through square openings with modern glazing on the south side of the nave, has a shallow barrel-vaulted ceiling and oak-panelled walls with oak pilasters. At its east end is a green and white marble altar with an oak and glazed tabernacle set into the wall above. The south wall contains a marble piscina and an oak aedicule holding a statue of St Joseph and Child. A door at the west end leads to the confessional beyond.

The stained glass windows, confined to the Lady Chapel and narthex, are by Hardman & Co and post-date the church; one window in the chapel is dated 1960. The nave and Lady Chapel have wood block floors. The narthex and west porch contain marble holy water stoups with tiled floors. Panelled oak doors survive throughout the building.