Roman Catholic Church of St. Edmund

Roman Catholic Church of St. Edmund

This Roman Catholic church on St Mary's Street in Bungay was built between 1889 and 1901 by the architect Bernard Smith for the English Benedictine Congregation. The patron was Frederic Smith, a local solicitor. The building is constructed in red brick with Bath stone dressings and has a plain Broseley tile roof. The architectural style combines Decorated and Perpendicular Gothic elements.

The church comprises a chancel with a priest's sacristy added in 1889 across its east end, a boys' sacristy and boiler house on the north side added in 1891, a nave with a north aisle, a Lady Chapel, and an octagonal baptistery.

Exterior

The chancel is lit by a three-window range of two-light windows, while the nave has a four-window range of three-light windows with buttresses between them. The west end projects forward by one window. The blank west front features an elaborate carved frontispiece around the square-framed west door, created by Ovens of Norwich. This depicts Saints Gregory and Augustine and scenes from the life of St. Edmund arranged in arched niches. Above, a crocketed gable with pinnacles contains a large roundel showing an enthroned St. Edmund.

The baptistery is distinguished by flying buttresses, narrow windows, a corbelled battlemented parapet, and a tall green copper conical roof rising to a finial.

Interior

The chancel contains stained glass by Hardman and Company in the east window, featuring portraits of Frederic Smith's parents as donor figures in the bottom corners. The chancel walls have wood panelling and a fine, elaborate reredos of Caen stone panels depicting angels, all created by A.B. Wall of Cheltenham. The south windows are stained glass by Bourne, while the north windows are by W.B. Simpson and Sons. The chancel roof is arch-braced with mahogany angels and a traceried frieze.

The nave contains a complete set of stained glass by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake, and features carved wall panelling including high relief Stations of the Cross by Daymond and Boulton of Cheltenham. Statues in niches on the nave's east wall are also by Boulton. The chancel arch is flanked by statues of the Sacred Heart and St. Joseph under large niche canopies. The nave roof has beams and plaster infill in a chequer pattern. Pews run uninterrupted across the width of the nave. The founder's memorial on the south nave wall features Roman lettering with mosaic and marble. A fine woodblock floor was supplied by Roger Lowe of Farnworth, Bolton.

A two-bay arcade with clustered shaft piers and responds leads to the north aisle Lady Chapel, which has similar stained glass and a stone reredos in high relief depicting the Assumption of the Virgin by Boulton. The west end of the nave has a gallery partly over the entrance vestibule, which houses an organ by Norman and Beard of Norwich.

The elaborate baptistery, accessed from the Lady Chapel through iron gates, features a star vault, blind arcading with marble columns, patterned stained glass, and a fan-vaulted roof. An octagonal font in various marbles, principally alabaster, stands in this space, with a richly carved font cover above it.

History

A chapel was built on this site in 1823 near the parish church and close to the remains of the pre-Reformation Benedictine nunnery. A presbytery was added in 1829 adjacent to the street. In 1888, Frederic Smith offered to build a new chancel and sacristy in memory of his parents, which was completed in 1889. He subsequently offered to build the nave, which was constructed around the old chapel but was restricted in size by the existing presbytery and surrounding graveyard. The old chapel was demolished and the new church opened in 1891. A decision was then made to rebuild the presbytery to the southeast of the church, linking it to the building; this was completed in 1894. The baptistery was added to the northwest corner of the church between 1899 and 1901.

The total cost of the chancel, nave, and presbytery was approximately £14,000, entirely funded by the patron. The church displays high-quality and rich decoration both inside and out. Together with the presbytery and the Church of St. Mary (including the ruins of the Benedictine Convent), it forms a very significant group in the centre of Bungay.