Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Wayside

This is a Roman Catholic parish church built between 1965 and 1967 to the designs of Brian Rush of Rush, Granelli and Partners. The stained and coloured glass is by Tom Fairs, and the sculpture by Dame Elisabeth Frink and Walter Ritchie.

Materials and Construction

The church is constructed from handmade, silver-grey facing brick used both internally and externally, with reconstituted stone copings and window dressings. The roof comprises a series of bow-shaped steel trusses covered with bituminous felt over reinforced wood wool slabs. The baptistery spire is made of reinforced glass fibre on a timber frame.

Plan

The church is arranged as a series of linked blocks comprising a narthex, a weekday chapel, a baptistery, a main chapel, lady chapel and sacristy.

Exterior

The principal elevation facing Stratford Road has a central aluminium-framed doorway giving access to the narthex. To the right of the doorway stands the circular baptistery, divided by slender reconstituted stone ribs with an infill of stained and coloured glass, above which runs a band of several brick courses. Surmounting the baptistery is a tall, slender spire rising from a circular glazed top light. The weekday chapel on the left has a reconstituted stone plinth, rounded corners and full-height slit windows between wider brick panels.

Set behind and rising above the narthex, baptistery and weekday chapel is the large main chapel. It has a dual mono-pitched roof in which the right-hand pitch, sloping downwards from right to left, is shallower and longer than the left-hand pitch which, sloping downwards from left to right, is steeper and shorter, so that the church's external mass reaches its peak over the sanctuary. A ribbon clerestory window runs the full width of this elevation.

On the right-hand return, a full-height window separates the baptistery from the blind wall of the narthex. To the right of the narthex wall is the large convex wall of the main chapel, which is blind and rises to a shallow parapet with reconstituted coping stones.

On the left-hand return, a recessed bay with a full-height window separates the day chapel from the convex wall of the main chapel, which has a deep parapet with reconstituted coping stones. Adjoining the main chapel is a flat-roofed, single-storeyed range housing the sacristy and boiler house.

The rear elevation has slit side windows rising to a ribbon clerestory running the full width of this elevation. Adjoining this elevation is a flat-roofed, single-storeyed range accommodating the rear entrance, toilets and the Lady Chapel. It has, from left to right, a wooden-framed doorway and four metal-framed casement windows. In the re-entrant angle with the main chapel there is a full-height stained glass window.

Interior

Narthex

The main door leads into the narthex, which has terrazzo flooring, bare brick walls and a part boarded and part glazed ceiling. The left-hand wall between the day chapel and main chapel features a life-size low-relief carving of the Crucifixion of Christ, carved in-situ by Walter Ritchie. Standing by the doors to the main chapel is a wooden sculpture titled 'Peace in Our Time' by Angelo Bordonari, depicting the murdered dove of peace.

Baptistery

To the right of the narthex is the baptistery. This also has a terrazzo floor surrounded by a mosaic-tiled water cascade which incorporates a holder for the Paschal Candle. Standing in the centre is a drum-shaped font of Portland stone on a narrow granite base, with relief carvings of human and animal life by Walter Ritchie. Encircling the baptistery is a wall of strip windows with abstract-patterned stained and coloured glass depicting, in three scenes, the Passovers of the Old and New Testaments and Resurrection.

Weekday Chapel

The weekday chapel stands to the left of the narthex and is accessed through double sliding doors. It has bare brick walls, a hardwood block floor and a boarded ceiling painted white. This chapel is divided from the main chapel by a full-height glazed screen and contains two confessionals and wooden bench pews. In front of the screen there is a single-stepped altar platform on which stands a simple altar table with a wooden altar top and metal-framed plinth which can be easily removed when not required. The strip windows to the external walls contain abstract-patterned stained and coloured glass depicting the different stages of life, from birth to death and the afterlife. To the right of the doorway there is a life-size sketch of the Crucified Christ by Walter Ritchie for the sculpture in the narthex.

Main Chapel

Folding doors lead from the narthex into the main chapel, which is formed of a broad single space with its volume defined by a convex ceiling spanning between concave front and rear walls, with the sanctuary emphasised by natural light from a concealed, curved roof light. The wide nave has a fan-shaped seating plan of wooden bench pews arranged on three sides of the altar.

A rectangular-shaped sanctuary of polished stone with a curved dais extends from the rear wall in the form of a thrust stage. It is two-stepped with a narrow bottom step incorporating the foundation stone and a wide pavement above. In the middle there is a three-stepped altar platform on which stands a broad High Altar of Portland stone with a granite plinth, by Walter Ritchie. Its front has a raised inscription with text from St John which reads 'I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT ON ALL FLESH'. Set into the wall above the altar is a cantilevered plinth on which stands a life-size, gilded bronze figure of the Risen Christ bearing the five wounds of the Passion, by Elisabeth Frink. Below is the tabernacle.

Flanking the sanctuary on each side are two sliding doors to the sacristies. Stations of the Cross are placed on the wall to the left and right of the doors leading to the sacristies. At the rear is a wide gallery with wooden railings, a deep wooden handrail and steel brackets. It is supported on steel columns and is accessed at each end by an open-riser staircase with steel balusters and a wooden handrail.

The sacristies for the priest and servers are located behind the sanctuary and contain a series of original cabinets and cupboards. They are divided by a folding partition wall so that they can be opened into one large room.

Lady Chapel

To the right of the main chapel is the Lady Chapel, which has a full-height window of abstract-patterned painted and stained glass forming a reredos or backdrop to a concrete altar with cantilevered mensa. In the corner is a large wooden sculpture of the Madonna and Child, carved from a single block of teak by Walter Ritchie. Inscribed into the brickwork behind the sculpture is a line from Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem 'The Blessed Virgin Compared to the Air We Breathe' which reads 'MEN ARE MEANT TO SHARE HER LIFE AS LIFE DOES AIR / IF I HAVE UNDERSTOOD / SHE HOLDS / HIGH MOTHERHOOD'.

To the right of the Lady Chapel are double-doors through which is a small lobby from which the toilets and rear doorway are accessed. Set into the wall between the Lady Chapel and the doorway is a wooden windchest which holds the organ pipes. The organ itself is free-standing, located on the nave floor, to the left of the Lady Chapel.

Subsidiary Features

In front of the doorway there is a small, stepped, paved area with the riser inscribed 'BRIAN A RUSH Architect'. Flanking the step are circular paviours with geometric patterns set into granite setts.