Roman Catholic Church of St Boniface

Roman Catholic Church of St Boniface

A German Roman Catholic church built in 1959-1960, commissioned by Father Felix Leushacke on behalf of the German Catholic Church and the Diocese of Westminster. It was designed by Donald Plaskett Marshall with Dr Toni Hermanns of Kleve. The building incorporates decorative elements from a previous church, including Stations of the Cross made by Georg Lang of Oberammergau in 1912, and features notable artworks by Heribert Reul of Kevelaer (sgraffito mural and font) and Reginald Lloyd of Bideford (decorative ironwork).

The church is constructed using concrete encased steel portal frames on deep concrete piles. External walls to the east and west are faced in dark brown hand-made brick laid in stretcher bond, while the north façade and bell-tower are clad in mosaic. The roof is clad in copper.

The plan comprises a broad nave with a tall bell-tower at the north-west corner. Internally, an organ loft is positioned to the north (liturgical west), with the sanctuary to the south (liturgical east).

The north façade is approached by four steps and features timber and glass panelling at ground level, with a central louvred double processional door flanked by two pedestrian entrances, all with brass fittings. The jettied narthex wall above is clad with mosaic black crosses between chamfered panels of yellow mosaic inset with alternate red blocks, while the west return wall uses yellow mosaic panels. The bell-tower at the north-west corner rises approximately 40 metres and is clad with mosaic panels in shades of grey, yellow and white. The belfry at the top is open to the north, west and east within a steel cage, housing four salvaged Victorian bells.

The nave comprises seven bays with west and east elevations in dark brown brick rising to a clerestory of four lights in aluminium frames between piers clad with grey mosaic panels. The south end of the west elevation has a triple-height window lighting the sanctuary, while the corresponding bay on the east side features quadruple-height windows and is recessed to accommodate the sacristy. The shallow-pitched roof has concrete eaves cast on plastic-lined shuttering for a coffered effect.

The interior is largely plastered in white. A timber screen with louvred doors separates the nave from the narthex beneath the gallery. The narthex and nave have wooden block flooring, with Sicilian white marble flooring in the sanctuary. Ceilings are panelled between the concrete trusses, and the nave is lit by original pendant lights.

The full-width narthex contains several commemorative plaques: a brass panel recording the church's history, a brass plaque listing parish priests, a bronze plaque by Joseph Welhing of Koblenz commemorating the link with the Pallotine fathers from 1903 until 1996, and a plaque to Father Leushacke (1913-97). A stair at the north-west leads to the gallery above, which houses an organ of 1965 by Romanus Seifert and Sohn of Kevelaer and Cologne.

Inside the nave, the fourteen Stations of the Cross are grouped in a frieze below the gallery within the timber screen separating the narthex from the church, which also contains the confessionals. These were made in Georg Lang's workshop at Oberammergau in 1912. Eleven panels survived bombing in 1940 by being in storage, but three larger panels were lost and replaced with three from the original workshop to maintain consistent size.

The font by Heribert Reul stands at the north end (liturgical west), carved from dark green marble and symbolically shaped as a triangle with curved corners. To the west of the sanctuary opening is a statue of Our Lady with a marble altar beneath; on the adjacent nave wall is an inset commemoration stone marking the re-consecration of the old church in 1925. The foundation stone of this church is set into the east wall of the nave near the door to the sacristy.

The dramatic focal point is the sgraffito mural by Reul on the rear wall of the sanctuary (liturgical east end) above the High Altar, executed in coloured and textured plaster. It depicts Christ in Glory with St Boniface, the English missionary of the Germans and the country's patron saint. Below is a tabernacle with a blessing hand, two fish and five loaves in beaten copper and silver with rock crystals, designed by Reul and made by Paul van Oyen of Kevelaer, on a green marble stand created from offcuts after the altar was reconfigured.

Reginald Lloyd designed a wrought-iron communion rail, now removed during reordering and hung in sections on the south wall, depicting symbols of the Eucharist, the Passion, the Agnus Dei, the stag from Psalm 42 and the wedding at Cana. To the west side of the sanctuary, the gallery features another wrought-iron balustrade depicting the Crucifixion with the Nativity and Resurrection. Lloyd also designed the north window above the gallery (liturgical west), a semi-abstract representation of the Pentecost in vivid red, yellow and blue.

The sacristy interior is plain but retains contemporary timber cupboard doors and other joinery, integrating with the presbytery.