Roman Catholic Cathedral Church of St Mary and St Helen including walls, railings and gates

This Roman Catholic cathedral comprises two distinct architectural components: the surviving portion of a Gothic church built in 1860–1861 to designs by Gilbert Blount, and a dominant classical addition built in 1989–1991 to designs by Quinlan Terry.

Materials

The principal external walls of both parts are constructed in Kentish ragstone, with yellow Smeed Dean stock brick used for the less conspicuous west elevation and the clerestory of the later addition. Blount's church has natural stone dressings, while the classical detailing of Terry's exterior employs a mixture of cast stone and Portland stone. Natural Welsh slate covers the roofs throughout.

Plan

Blount's church consists of a nave, south aisle, chancel (now the Blessed Sacrament chapel) with a south chapel, former sacristy, south porch, and south-west tower and spire. Terry's rectangular addition to the north has aisles on three sides and incorporates the nave of Blount's church to form a centralised Greek cross plan.

Exterior

The Classical Addition (North)

The principal façade is the north elevation of Terry's classical addition, which takes inspiration from the early Italian Renaissance fused with the English Baroque of Wren. The classical elements are in smooth Portland stone to contrast with the rugged ragstone. The elevations are divided into bays by Doric pilasters supporting a continuous Doric triglyph frieze, with balls on the parapet marking the bay divisions.

The principal north elevation consists of nine bays with a central semicircular portico in a giant Doric order, reminiscent of the south portico of Wren's St Paul's Cathedral and the west entrance of Gibbs's St Mary-le-Strand. The double-leaf panelled door is set within a pedimented doorcase with a frieze inscribed 'SURREXIT DOMINUS' (the Lord is Risen) in gold leaf lettering. The portico is flanked by pedimented bays. The secondary entrance in the eastern bay, used for day-to-day access, has a hooped lantern and a simple classical doorcase with the date MCMLXXXIX inscribed in the frieze, also in gold leaf lettering. The fenestration consists of semicircular-headed windows with leaded lights set within moulded stone surrounds. All the glass in the windows of the new part of the cathedral is hand-made.

Set back behind the parapet is a raised clerestory of yellow brick with a modillion cornice, lit by semicircular-headed windows. The shallow hipped roof rises to a domed octagonal cupola surmounted by a gilded ball and tall cross in steel with gilded rays. The cupola is inspired by Bernini's church in Ariccia whilst also echoing the cupola on Brentwood School on the other side of Ingrave Road, and perhaps too the turrets on the original 1830s church which the cathedral faces. The five-bay east elevation and the less visible west elevation, in brick, both contain a Serlian window in the Ionic order.

The Gothic Church (South)

The south side of the cathedral consists of Blount's Gothic church of 1861. It has a gabled west end with a five-light traceried window in the Decorated style. Alongside is the south-west tower of two main stages with diagonal buttresses, two-light windows in the lower stage, and lancets in the taller upper stage with an image niche on the south side. The tower is capped by an octagonal lantern on a shouldered base and a stone spirelet. The belfry houses a bell cast by Whitechapel Bell Foundry for the opening of the rebuilt cathedral as well as the old bell of 1861, also cast by Whitechapel.

On the south elevation is a gabled south porch with a shafted entrance arch, two-light windows in the lean-to aisle, three cusped spherical triangle openings in the clerestory, and a steeply pitched nave roof. The lower chancel with its side chapel and transeptal vestry forms an attractive composition. The chancel has a five-light east window with a hexafoil and two trefoils in the tracery.

Interior of the Classical Cathedral

The internal disposition of the cathedral is organised around a novel axis that runs north-south (instead of east-west) from the entrance portico, past the ambo to a centrally placed altar, with the bishop's throne beyond. Recurring throughout the design of the internal fittings is the number eight, which signifies the seven days of material creation and the 'eighth day' of the new creation, the order of grace created through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Terry designed every detail of the cathedral's interior, even down to the boards for hymn numbers, the central heating grilles, and fire exit signs.

The day-to-day entrance in the eastern bay of the north elevation leads into a narthex area in one of the re-entrants of the Greek cross, housing a repository in the form of a large cupboard with scrolled open pediment, made by Taylor's of Bildeston, Suffolk, to Terry's designs.

The main space of the church resembles an Italian Renaissance court, framed by an arcade of five bays on the longer north and south sides and three bays on the east and west sides. The Tuscan columns have a pronounced entasis. The design of the arcade, with its roundels in the spandrels, appears to be derived from Brunelleschi's Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence. On the south side, this arcade creates a degree of separation from the Blount church while retaining intervisibility. Above the arcade is a Doric entablature with triglyphs, echoing that on the external elevations.

The walls are of plain painted plaster, with some detailing, notably the guilloche pattern around the cornice of the clerestory, picked out in gold leaf. The ceiling is divided into fifteen compartments, the raised ribs embellished with a Greek key pattern also picked out in gold leaf. The cupola, which rises from the central compartment, has timber balustrading framing the octagonal opening. The floor is laid in Portland stone slabs with diamond slates set into the corners, forming the pattern carreaux d'octagones. The space is well-lit by the large clear-glazed leaded windows.

In the north-east and north-west corners are simple timber staircases with stick balusters leading up to plainly decorated Reconciliation rooms.

Principal Fittings

The Bishop's chair, altar, font, and ambo were all designed for the cathedral by Quinlan Terry's practice, in Nabrasina stone from Pisa. All but the latter are raised on Portland stone plinths.

The Bishop's chair or cathedra is placed in the central bay of the south arcade, raised on a dais of two steps. It has two scrolled arm rests and a segmental pediment to its back, incorporating the Diocesan coat of arms; its design was inspired by a throne at San Miniato al Monte, Florence. The panelled base is inlaid with slate to match the floor.

The chair faces towards the altar, which is placed centrally under the light of the cupola. It is rectangular in form, following the proportions and axis of the main space, with eight Tuscan columns supporting the mensa.

On the same north-south axis as the chair and altar is the ambo, from which the Liturgy of the Word is celebrated. It is the same height as the altar, showing that the Word of God is of equal importance to the doctrine of transubstantiation, a change of liturgical emphasis dating from Vatican II. It is octagonal in form with panelled faces and is surmounted by a gilded eagle lectern.

The octagonal font, located in the north aisle between the two entrances, is raised on a stone plinth and has three steps into the basin to allow those being baptised to stand in the water. Carved in Pisa, its design was informed by Romans 6:3 – 'when we were baptised in Christ Jesus, we were baptised in his death'. The cruciform shape of the basin encapsulates this concept, whilst the three steps represent dying and rising to new life.

Other fittings include two holy water stoups with stone bowls on baluster stems and clawed feet, and the congregational seating disposed on three sides of the altar, consisting of individual wooden Essex chairs incorporating kneelers, all designed by Terry. The brass aumbry set into the wall behind the font was formerly in the chapel built by William Wardell for the Petre family at Thorndon Hall. The Stations of the Cross, set into the spandrels of the arcades, are glazed terracotta roundels by Raphael Maklouf, the sculptor responsible for the Queen's head on coinage. The cathedral is lit by modern brass chandeliers of traditional form, the largest of which hangs over the central altar.

Interior of the Gothic Church

The south arcade of the classical cathedral adjoins the north side of the nave of Blount's Victorian church, forming its north arcade. The four-bay south arcade was rebuilt by Terry, who replicated the Gothic arches but used a plaster finish to ensure the harmonious transition of the two parts of the cathedral. The pitched roof of the nave has braced principal rafters with tie beams, resting on carved stone corbels. At the east end, the ceiling of the Blessed Sacrament chapel (the former sanctuary) consists of square compartments divided by ribs, with painted barbed quatrefoils in pale red, green, and gold, created in 1911.

The interior of the Blount church has an intimate atmosphere dimly lit by stained glass windows. In the Blessed Sacrament chapel, the east window by Mayer and Company depicts the Risen Christ with saints Peter, Paul, John, and Andrew; and on its south side is a small window of the Sacred Heart, the original dedication of the cathedral. In the south aisle, the stained glass windows depict the Good Shepherd and Mary Magdalene anointing the feet of Jesus.

The remaining furnishings consist almost entirely of pieces designed by Terry or chosen by Bishop Mahon. Most notable is the painted wooden tabernacle in the Blessed Sacrament chapel, a mini-classical church of centralised design, acquired by the bishop in Rome. It stands on a pedestal of Pisan Nabrasina stone. The brass sanctuary lamp dating from the late 19th century comes from St Mary's, Hornchurch, whilst the stone and slate tablets in the Blessed Sacrament chapel and in the north aisle are by Terry. In a recess on the south wall of the east aisle is a wooden crucifix from the church of Our Lady and St Joseph in Stock; and the Gothic stone chimneypiece in the sacristy is from Thorndon Hall chapel.

Situated behind the Bishop's chair in the western half of the nave are the box choir stalls arranged in an arc facing the main interior of the classical cathedral. Designed by Terry in ash, they have panelled sides and fronts with open lattice panels across the top, and incorporate brass lights based on 18th-century candlestick designs.

At the west end of the nave is the organ, built by the London firm of Alfred Hunter in 1881, which came from the now-redundant Anglican church of St Mary-at-the-Walls in Colchester. It has been rebuilt and enlarged by Daniels of Clevedon, with a new classical case by Terry. The console forms a high pedestal which supports a giant Corinthian order with a central pediment. The impost to this order is a minor Corinthian order complete with entablature and half pediments; a characteristic basilica front used frequently by Palladio in numerous churches in Venice.

Subsidiary Features

The site of the cathedral and its associated buildings is enclosed on the north, east, and south sides by a wall of yellow brick laid in Flemish bond, high on the south side but falling to a low plinth on the other two sides. It supports iron railings of simple uprights which are surmounted at regular intervals by gold leaf finials.

On the east side, two pairs of substantial gate piers mark the entrances. Those to the north are octagonal and have alternating bands of yellow brick and stone, surmounted by stone ball finials. Those to the south are very similar in design except that they are square and have a pair of iron gates with an inverted segmental arched upper rail.