Polish Roman Catholic Church Of The Sacred Heart Of Jesus And St Cuthbert

The Polish Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St Cuthbert is a Romanesque revival church on Saint Cuthbert's Street, originally built in 1845-7 by James Woodroffe of Bedford. It was consecrated on 8 July 1847, replacing a medieval church that had fallen into disrepair. The decision to rebuild was taken in October 1844, following concerns about the condition of the previous structure, which consisted simply of a nave, chancel, and small belfry over the middle of the building.

The church is constructed of coursed limestone rubble with freestone dressings and slate roofs. It exemplifies the neo-Romanesque style, which enjoyed brief popularity between the late 1830s and mid-1840s before giving way to the Gothic Revival. St Cuthbert's is therefore a late example of this architectural fashion.

The building underwent several phases of expansion to meet increasing needs. Aisles were added in 1864-5 by Francis Cranmer Penrose, a distinguished London architect who later became surveyor to the fabric at St Paul's Cathedral. A cloister porch and north organ chamber were added in 1877 by James Horsford, along with a new south organ chamber and conversion of the previous one into a vestry. A north porch was added in 1907 by George Grocock.

The plan comprises a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, a southeast chapel, northeast vestry, crossing tower with north and south transepts, north porch, and a west narthex-porch. The west end of the south aisle has been screened off as a vestry, and there is a west organ loft.

The principal elevation faces north onto the street. It presents the north aisle (unusually terminating at the west end in a semi-circular apse with bold pilasters), two gabled transepts (the east one with a north porch), and a three-sided apsidal vestry. The windows throughout are round-headed, arranged in various single, double, and triple configurations. The west end features a narthex-porch under a lean-to roof spanning the junction of the nave and south aisle. The nave and south aisle, each covered by separate gables, have three tall grouped windows of equal height and narrow proportions. The two-stage crossing tower has a low coped parapet with pairs of round-arched belfry windows with tiled arches set in ashlar panels and a Lombardic top frieze. The chancel has angle pilaster buttresses and a triple round-headed east window with nook shafts and lights of equal height, with toothed moulding to the arches. The gable contains a roundel and one-light round-arched north and south windows. The south transept has a roundel in the gable, a triple round-headed window, and a semi-circular-headed doorway with two orders of zig-zag moulding and nook shafts. The south aisle has single-light round-arched windows to each bay with pilasters between. In the angle between the south aisle and transept is a small round turret with a conical stone top.

The interior is divided by triple round-arched arcades with circular monolithic piers and carved volute capitals, which are decorated with gilding. The arches are unmoulded. In the crossing, round arches with zig-zag detailing rest on semi-circular responds with richly carved capitals, also gilded. The nave, chancel, and aisle roofs are all arch-braced with flat boarding above the collars and diagonal boarding between the rafters. The crossing roof is plastered and divided into panels by moulded ribs. The east wall of the chancel is decorated with round arches featuring billet mouldings, while the chancel and transept windows have zig-zag mouldings.

The church contains a notable and interesting set of neo-Romanesque fittings obtained from Chicheley Park in Buckinghamshire, including an altar, communion rail, pulpit, and nave benches, all decorated with round-arched detail. The nave bench ends carry fittings for umbrellas. There are three fonts: the earliest originated in the church and was reinstated in 1925. It has a deep bowl and is probably of the early 14th century, though some have suggested an earlier date on account of its corner shafts with fillets; the base is later. The other two fonts date to the 19th century, one being very small with an octagonal bowl on an octagonal stem. Post-1970s fittings include a reredos with a statue of Christ within a sunburst and two confessionals. A First World War memorial was erected by the parishioners in 1921, with a later plaque commemorating those who fell in the Second World War. The stained glass includes an east window with medallions by Baillie.

The church closed in 1974 and became redundant on 22 October 1975. It was subsequently used by a Serbian Orthodox congregation before being taken over by the Harpur Trust and presented to the Polish Roman Catholic community in July 1979, when its name was changed to the Polish Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St Cuthbert.