Roman Catholic Church of St Mary and parish hall

Roman Catholic Church of St Mary and Parish Hall

A Roman Catholic church built in 1826, with a parish hall (a former school building) added in 1879.

The church is constructed of knapped flint with gault brick dressings, and the roofs are covered in Welsh slate. The plan is a single open volume internally, with a gallery at the west end and a sanctuary at the east end. Externally, the plan is undifferentiated. The compass points used here are liturgical, so the altar is described as being at the east end.

The church is attached to the presbytery at the liturgical west end and is gabled at the east. It measures four bays in length and features tall window openings with round arches and rusticated brick surrounds. An eaves cornice of dentilated brick runs along the walls.

The liturgical north elevation faces Newtown across a small burial ground. On the left-hand side is a flint and brick porch with a double doorway and an arched fanlight. The east gable rises to a small copper-covered cross. The wall is blank, with a large former window opening now infilled with stretcher bond brickwork. The south elevation has a window in each of the four bays. The left-hand window has been shortened by the creation of a pair of lean-to extensions. Mounted on the wall at the centre of the elevation is a figure of the Virgin and Child. Beneath the right-hand window is a small early 21st-century porch covering the entrance to the crypt.

Internally, the church is a single open volume with a gallery at the west end and the sanctuary at the east. A deep moulded cornice runs beneath the coved ceiling, which has a large plaster rose at its centre. The pews forming the majority of seating have simple panelled bench ends with marks indicating the historic presence of doors to each pew. The sanctuary rises three steps to the height of the altar. Corinthian columns and pilasters with entablatures form an aedicule around the altar and altarpiece. The front of the altar is carved with stags lapping at water flowing from the rock of Calvary; on its reverse face is a Pelican in her Piety. A small confessional with a plain interior is attached to the liturgical south side of the sanctuary. The western bay is occupied by a gallery constructed in the 1960s, housing an organ and raked seating. It is accessed via twin staircases against the west wall, which frame a memorial plaque dedicated to George Gardiner and his family. Attached to the south side of the nave, abutting the confessional, is a small vestry or sacristy with a plain interior.

The parish hall is a freestanding structure located to the rear of the church. It is built of red brick laid in Flemish bond with a steep pitched roof covered in Welsh slate and ornamental ridge tiles. There are two porches on the north side and a 20th-century extension at the east end. Almost all windows are on the south side, with a large window of Gothic tracery design in the west gable end. At the apex of the west gable is a Gothic bellcote without a bell.

The principal interior space of the parish hall is a large hall with an arch-braced roof structure concealed above the collars. Matchboard dado panelling runs all around the interior, and a blocked fireplace is present on the north side. Other original features include four-panelled doors and a quarry tiled floor.