Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart and adjoining Presbytery

Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart

This Roman Catholic parish church was originally designed by AWN Pugin and erected in 1843 as the Church of St Andrew in Cambridge. The building was subsequently re-erected in St Ives in 1902, with the work of dismantling, moving and reassembly undertaken by John Morley of Cambridge and Edward W Robb of St Ives. The church is constructed from red brick laid in English bond with a limestone plinth and dressings, brick chimney stacks and slate roofs.

The church is orientated north-west to south-east, though its design follows conventional liturgical orientation with the altar at the east end. The plan comprises a clerestoried nave, four-bay lean-to aisles on either side, a western bellcote and a northern porch and sacristy.

The exterior displays 13th-century Early English Gothic Revival style. The gabled west end fronts Needingworth Road and features two lancet windows set one above the other within chamfered quoined surrounds, contained within a central projecting section. Above these sits a gabled stone bellcote with two pointed openings with foliate-stopped hoodmoulds. Offset buttresses separate the west end from the flanking aisles, each of which has a single lancet window within chamfered quoined surrounds.

The north and south sides have four-bay lean-to aisles topped by four pairs of pointed clerestory windows within recessed stone surrounds with pointed segmental arches and gauged brick heads.

A porch projects from the westernmost bay on the north side, featuring a stone-coped kneelered gable. It contains a pointed doorway with a double-chamfered quoined surround and foliate-stopped hoodmould. The wooden door, probably from the original Cambridge church, bears two decorative strap hinges with flowing scrollwork. The side returns have small lancets with trefoil heads and chamfered quoined surrounds. To the left of the porch, two centre bays have single lancets with chamfered quoined surrounds.

Projecting from the easternmost bay on the north side is a two-storey sacristy with a pitched roof set at right-angles to the nave roof, positioned behind a triangular gable with corbelled kneelers. Both its north and west sides have two-light pointed windows on each floor, those on the first floor being deeper than those on the ground floor. The north side windows are flanked to the left by small lancets. All windows in this range have chamfered quoined surrounds; those on the north and west sides of the ground floor have brick relieving arches. The sacristy's east side features a pointed doorway and a substantial brick stack rising to a deep, oversailing upper section.

The gabled east end of the church has stepped triple lancets to the nave with a small trefoil window directly above the centre light. The flanking aisles, again separated from the nave by offset buttresses, have single lancets. All these windows have chamfered quoined surrounds.

The interior of the main body of the church has plain plastered walls. A four-bay nave arcade of double-chamfered pointed arches is carried on circular and octagonal piers with octagonal capitals and semi-octagonal responds with semi-octagonal capitals. The nave roof has principal rafters carried down onto timber wall posts along with collars with raking struts and wrought-iron ties. The aisles have common rafter roofs. The sanctuary is raised by one step and carpeted, with parquet flooring elsewhere. Set in the sanctuary to the left of the altar is a foundation stone inscribed 'A XP O / ANNO SALUTIS / MCMII / AD FIDEM REDEANT ANGLI' (Christ the Alpha and Omega / The year of Salvation / 1902 / May the English return to the faith).

Furnishings designed by Pugin include the high altar of limewashed Caen stone. It displays symbols of the evangelists in three quatrefoils: the centre quatrefoil shows the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei) carrying a banner of Victory, surrounded by the symbols of the four evangelists clockwise from the top—the winged man (St Matthew), the eagle (St John), the winged ox (St Luke) and the winged lion (St Mark). The flanking quatrefoils bear figures of winged angels. The tabernacle behind the altar is believed to have been manufactured by John Hardman Jr of Hardman and Company to Pugin's design. Also by Pugin is an octagonal Caen stone font, 13th-century in style, with a carved quatrefoil, wooden cover and a base of four short columns. It was originally inside the north door but was moved to the east end of the north aisle in 1978. The Lady altar at the east end of the south aisle is of carved oak and bears the inscription MATER PURISSIMA / ORA PRO NOBIS (Mother, the most pure / pray for us). Its exact date is unknown but it probably post-dates the 1902 rebuilding.

The stained-glass lancet windows above the high altar are those originally from the Church of St Andrew in Cambridge. They were designed by Pugin and made by William Wailes of Newcastle. The centre window features Our Lady with the Child Jesus; to its left is St Andrew carrying the saltire cross of his martyrdom, with the symbols of St Matthew and St Mark respectively above and below him. To the right is St Felix, patron of the Diocese of East Anglia, with the symbols of St John and St Luke above and below. Above is a small trefoil window showing a descending dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit. At the west end of the two side aisles are windows depicting St Alphonsus on the west wall and St George on the east.

A memorial window above the Lady Altar was donated in memory of Mary Agnes Norman, a parishioner. A window above the Baptismal Font depicts the symbols of Baptism. Both were installed in 1979.

Two stained-glass windows installed in 2002 include the Centenary Window placed in the south aisle, which depicts the removal of the church from Cambridge to St Ives. A second window placed in the north aisle depicts St Felix, St Etheldreda and St Edmund, three saints with important East Anglian connections.

The adjoining presbytery dates from 1906. A large extension was built on the liturgical south side in 1978, originally used to enlarge the congregation space and serve as a parish hall. A parish hall of 2001-2002 and the La Salette Room of 2017 (formerly an internal courtyard between the church, presbytery and 1978 addition, roofed over to create multi-purpose space) adjoin the church. These later additions are not included in the listing.