The Oratory

The Oratory is a church built in 1884 by H Gribble, designed in an elaborate Italian Baroque style. The building features a nave with three main bays, side chapels, transepts, and an apsed chancel. Its symmetrical facade has five bays on the ground floor and three above, with a pediment and a recessed porch. The exterior is partly rusticated and includes applied pilasters and blind niches. The return elevations are treated similarly, with balustraded parapets on both the nave and aisle. A lead-covered dome with a cupola and ball finial sits over the crossing. Inside, the church is elaborately lined with marble, featuring domes in the nave and well-lit side chapels, along with numerous Baroque-style marble sculptures, including figures in the spandrels.