Roman Catholic Church of the Most Precious Blood, Presbytery, Forecourt Walls and Shrine

Roman Catholic Church of the Most Precious Blood, Presbytery, Forecourt Walls and Shrine

A church and presbytery built in 1891-92, designed by F A Walters. The church is executed in neo-Romanesque style whilst the presbytery is designed in the Arts and Crafts style. Both are constructed in stock brick laid in English bond beneath slate roofs.

The church is roughly rectangular in plan, comprising a small west vestibule, a seven-bay nave with the two western bays occupied by a gallery, narrow circulation aisles, two narrow transepts, and a sanctuary with a semi-circular apse. A sacristy is attached to the north-east side of the church, connecting to the presbytery which originally also housed a seminary. The presbytery faces onto Redcross Way.

The west front of the church on O'Meara Street presents a central gable flanked by corner bays that rise as tall bellcotes with gabled tops, each containing a Whitechapel bell of 1956. Pilaster strips define the bays. Near the apex of the central gable are two small round-arched windows within a larger round-arched opening, and below sits a large circular window with iron glazing divisions forming a cross and circles incorporating some coloured glass, flanked by narrow round-headed windows at a slightly lower level. A central round-headed arched doorway with double panelled doors and decorative ironmongery sits below, topped by a stone plaque inscribed "1892-1992 PRECIOUS BLOOD CENTENARY DEO GRACIAS". Low brick walls surmounted by iron railings flank the doorway on either side, incorporating two square brick piers with gabled stone heads and enclosing two forecourts. The north forecourt contains a stone Lourdes grotto with pediment and pilasters, featuring a knapped flint round-headed niche containing a statue of Our Lady of all the Nations. The remaining sides of the church are plain brick, with window openings only in the transepts, largely masked by adjoining buildings.

The attached presbytery at 22 Redcross Way comprises three storeys in two sections. The southern section is taller, with a tall panelled chimneystack and a staircase tower at the south-east end containing two small circular windows, three lancets, and a round-headed doorcase with a 20th-century door. Its principal west-facing elevation has two tall panelled chimneystacks and displays three bays with three round-headed giant arches containing sash windows, the central example retaining original sashes with six panes above verticals. The ground floor has two round-headed arched windows. At the south-east corner is an attached gabled brick passage entrance with a round-headed arch and iron gate. The northern section, also of three storeys with basement but lower elevation, comprises five bays with pilaster-divided upper-floor windows. The ground floor displays three round-headed arches, the narrower northern arch possibly indicating an original entrance. All sash windows to this section are later 20th-century replacements.

Internally, the church's central west entrance leads into a small brick vestibule with three arched recesses on each side. The main paired doors have flamboyant iron strapwork hinges and segmental arched opening above with herringbone brickwork.

At the nave's west end is a gallery with three round-arched openings onto the nave supported on square piers. Further arched openings lead from the south-west corner to the stair ascending to the large gallery (which accommodated 150 people) and from the north-west corner into the former baptistery, originally with steps down to a lower floor now levelled to form a clergy vestry. The original stone font is currently located at 160 College Park Avenue, Harrow.

The nave excludes the west gallery comprises seven bays. Narrow circulation aisles contain tall round-headed arched arcades towards the nave and lower narrower arches punctuating buttress-like piers marking bay divisions. The nave walls are alternately blind and lit by two small round-headed windows. The bays are divided vertically by pilaster strips and horizontally (as far as the gallery) by a string course. Above the string course each bay incorporates a round-arched opening containing a circular clerestory window with alternating diamond and square patterns of iron glazing subdivision. Above is a timber roof with hammer beams supporting kingpost trusses on stone corbels. The westernmost aisle bays of the nave are slightly wider and accommodate side chapels and altars: the Lady Chapel on the south side with lean-to rafters painted with chevron patterns, and a statue of St. Joseph on the north side. Beyond these, taller arches open to shallow north and south transepts with small high-level window openings on their shorter sides. The nave is floored with large bricks.

The sanctuary is dominated by a painted timber baldacchino over the stone high altar within the semi-circular apse. Four columns carry two upper balustraded tiers, the first square and the second octagonal, all crowned by an octagonal roof surmounted by a cross. Around the apse arch is the lettering "CHRISTUS DILEXIT NOS ET LAVIT NOS IN SANGUINE SUO". This is all that visibly survives of earlier painted and stencilled decoration. Behind the baldacchino are an aumbry and piscina set in the wall, and a door on the north side leads to the sacristy. In front stands a later 20th-century forward altar.

The principal furnishings include dramatically expressive life-size painted Calvary figures of Our Lord, Our Lady and St. John in the north transept, introduced in 1893 by an artist not presently established, and large terra cotta Stations of the Cross in the aisles by Mathias Zens. A marbled tablet in the second bay of the nave from the east records the names of parishioners who donated the Stations of the Cross in 1894. A memorial to parish war dead appears on two timber tablets beside the Calvary. A late 19th-century organ is located in the south-east transept. The nave retains original wooden benches.

The sacristy features a large rectangular wooden lantern roof.

The presbytery retains the original well staircase with slender turned balusters and carved posts with ball finials.