Roman Catholic Church of St Saviour, boundary wall, gatepiers and overthrow

Roman Catholic Church of St Saviour, Boundary Wall, Gatepiers and Overthrow

A Roman Catholic parish church, built as a Benedictine monastery chapel between 1828 and 1829, extended and altered around 1850, possibly by Charles Hansom, for a Passionist community. It was converted to a parish church in 2000. The description includes the boundary wall, gatepiers and overthrow of the churchyard.

The church is constructed from local Cotswold limestone under a slate roof. The building is a simple rectangle on plan, orientated east-west, with a small chapel projecting on the south side. The liturgical east end is positioned at the west. Attached to the west is the former monastic building, and extending southwards at right angles is the former retreat house, of which the first two bays are now part of the church.

The high single-storey church has long elevations of squared and coursed limestone with a relatively shallow-pitched roof, the eaves carried on widely-spaced stone corbels. The entrance front is ashlar, with pilaster buttresses that break up through the eaves to form plinths for stone statues. The central semi-circular-arched doorway has jamb shafts and three orders of neo-Norman chevron carving. Above the doorway is a stone plaque carved with the emblem of the Passionists, and above this a round-headed niche containing a statue of Christ the Saviour. The gable is surmounted by a stone cross. The north return wall shows the first bay, added around 1850, in ashlar, with squared and coursed limestone beyond. The windows all have semi-circular arched heads. The first bay has windows to ground and first floor to reflect the internal gallery; that to the ground floor is blocked. The remainder comprises four bays: the first blind, the other three each with a large semi-circular arched window, though the first bay shows evidence of rebuilding indicating that a window has been blocked. At the west end the ridge is surmounted by a stone double bellcote. The south side has two visible bays matching those to the north. The next bay is occupied by a single-storey flat-roofed chapel with a round-headed window with hood mould, a straight buttress and a moulded parapet. The retreat house of 1908 abuts the remainder of the north side, and the 1830 monastic range extends from the west end of the church.

The church is entered by a door at the eastern end (liturgical west end) under the gallery, which has a bowed timber front and panelling to the rear. To the left is a small room in which the font survives as the base of a bookcase. The church, as a single space with no division to the sanctuary, is plain plastered with a string course under the window cills. The windows are in deep splayed reveals and have plain glazing. The floor is parquet, and a continuous flat panelled timber ceiling extends through the whole space. The side chapel has a segmental-arch opening with a roll moulding, a moulded cornice and coloured glass. The carved stone and marble altar has a Pietà reredos. The sanctuary is distinguished by oak panelling on all three sides, incorporating stalls, extending into timber pilaster strips above. The marble altar and classical reredos remain against the rear wall, which has a shallow round-headed niche above with a large Crucifixion.

The large altar is of stone and marble and dates from 1900. The sanctuary panelling and stalls, with trefoil-headed ends, were introduced in the 1930s when the painted decorative scheme was replaced. The bench pews, with shaped ends and solid backs, probably date from around 1850 when the chapel was extended and altered. Figures are by Hardman and Co, circa 1850.

The roadside boundary of the churchyard is marked by a wall of squared and coursed limestone with a pedestrian gateway of two piers and an overthrow. The piers have limestone ashlar dressings with vermiculated rusticated blocks between and moulded caps with a shallow modillion cornice. The round-arched iron overthrow incorporates scrolls, a central cross and lettering reading CATHOLIC CHURCH.