Roman Catholic Church Of St Mary (Church Of The Redemptionist Fathers)

Roman Catholic Church of St Mary (Church of the Redemptorist Fathers)

This church was built between 1849 and 1851 to the design of William Wardell. It stands on the south west side of Clapham Park Road and is constructed of ragstone with freestone dressings and slate roofs. The church has been significantly enlarged and enriched over subsequent decades through the addition of a Lady Chapel (1883–6), a South (ritual north) Transept (1892–4), the Chapel of St Gerard Majella (1910), and an extended north (ritual south) aisle (1926). Much of this later work, including fittings from 1866 onwards, was undertaken by J.F. Bentley, a celebrated ecclesiastical architect of the period. The South and North Transept extensions and Lady Chapel were also by Bentley; the Chapel of St Gerard Majella was designed by his son Osmund Bentley, and the 1926 aisle extension was designed by Bernard Cox.

The church is aligned east–west with its ritual east end to the west. The plan comprises a nave, sanctuary, double north aisle, a single south aisle, a south east tower, south transept, and Lady Chapel. A tall south east tower in three stages rises from the south aisle and is topped with a broached steeple. The tower is divided into ringing chamber and belfry stages, with two-light openings on each face, small belfry lights under plain canopies, and smaller lights above. The spire tip has been repaired. Tall angle buttresses with dressed stone offsets support the structure throughout.

The south entrance is sheltered under a canopy with crocketted finials and bears a panel with a figure of Christ. It leads into a rib-vaulted porch with a single-light window to the stair above. The south face features two bays of paired clerestorey lights above the three-bay Lady Chapel and a three-bay south (ritual north) transept with two four-light south windows.

The east (ritual west) front is dominated by a tall narrow buttressed nave. A central entrance stands under a cusped ogee arch, above which is a canopied porch with crocketted finials and a seated figure in a niche. A gable-end cross crowns the façade. North and south aisles each contain single three-light windows, with the north aisle extended under a flat roof. The south windows have cusped mouchette tracery, while the north windows display cusped intersecting tracery, matched by the northernmost window in the two-bay extension to the north aisle. Canopies containing sculpted figures flank the entrance.

The interior displays considerable architectural richness. A six-bay arcade of quatrefoil piers divides the space, with figure stops to the outer order of arch mouldings. The chancel arch is similarly detailed. Paired clerestorey lights spring from moulded arches with figure stops, with a continuous moulded band below. The nave and aisle roofs are trussed and carried on stone figure corbels, with carved spandrels throughout. The chancel roof is tierceron vaulted with foliate bosses. A six-light east (ritual) window with curvilinear cusped intersecting tracery illuminates the sanctuary. Four bays of sedilia occupy the south side of the chancel under a rich ogee arcade. The reredos comprises nine panels under crocketted canopies, with a gilded table on annulated legs below. A pulpit with tester stands to the right of the chancel arch, and to the left is a font under a niche bearing a figure of Our Lady. Above the chancel arch hangs a painting of the Last Judgement, a copy made in 1926 by J. Linthout after a work by J. Settegast of Koblenz from 1854.

The South (ritual north) Transept, built in 1892–4 by J.F. Bentley, served to link the church to a newly constructed monastery. A four-bay arcade divides this space. An iron grille with foliate upper panels and pierced cresting defines a small chapel containing an altar with a carved and gilded reredos depicting Christ under a canopy with flanking carved scenes. The chapel has a vaulted roof with picked-out ribs and a frieze of crowned angels. A two-light window lights this space. A former baptistry at the south end is screened by a fine iron screen. A carved stone south doorway with a flamboyant finial leads to a pair of panelled oak doors with upper leaded lights under ogee heads; a matching pair of doors opens to the monastery. Bentley designed distinctive onion-shaped pierced gilded metal light fittings, with examples said to be stored at the church. Bentley also provided stained glass for this transept.

The Lady Chapel, completed in 1883–6 and designed by J.F. Bentley, is one of the most elaborate spaces. An elaborate gilded wrought iron grille encloses the chapel. Every surface is richly ornamented with painted or stencilled walls, ceilings, and windows. A marble altar is set above a painted panel, with a richly gilded and painted reredos behind. The floor is tiled, and a silver hanging lamp is suspended above. War damage to windows was repaired by Veronica Whall.

The north (ritual south) aisle incorporates a former chapel, now housing the organ chamber, which is fronted by a pair of panelled oak doors under a single flat moulded stone hood. The Chapel of St Gerard Majella, added in 1910 by Osmund Bentley, features a rib-vaulted ceiling with foliate bosses and a tiled floor with individual tiles inscribed with the letters G and M. Its reredos displays a tall central panel and figures beneath a canopy, flanked by angels, while a four-light window depicts the life of St Gerard Majella. The 1926 aisle extension by Bernard Cox is characterized by a heavy bossed ceiling with angel corbels.