Church Of St Bede (Roman Catholic)

The Church of St Bede is a Roman Catholic church, originally built in 1847 as a police station and courtroom, designed by Richard Shepard in a Classical style. The building is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond, with stone and yellow brick dressings, and a slate roof. The initial design included cells on the ground floor, along with two police flats with separate street entrances, and a courtroom above.

The east-facing front has three bays, featuring a central open pediment with a brick modillion cornice supported on giant Ionic pilasters, and a deep plinth. The first floor has a sash window with nine panes, and a round-headed arched doorcase with a 20th-century door. The sides are of one tall storey with a hipped roof, with tall blank round-headed arches filled in with cement rendering. The north and south sides have two storeys and three windows each. The ends feature open pediments supported on full-height Ionic pilasters with a deep entablature to the centre bay. The central first-floor window is a six-pane sash, and the end windows are nine-pane sashes. The ground floor has a central arched doorcase with a plank door, and four twelve-pane sashes with cambered heads. A two-storey brick addition on the south side incorporates a stair and porch and obscures an end bay.

The first-floor interior, originally the courtroom, has an original ceiling divided into nine compartments by deep moulded beams, which are supported on four Tuscan columns at the intersections. A late 20th-century painting of "The River of Life" decorates the ceiling, and three late 20th-century stained glass windows are situated at the east end. The ground floor has been adapted in the 20th century with a glazed screen to the west, and folding screens that open to a meeting hall on the south side.

The police moved to a new police station in 1872, and the building subsequently served as a Temperance Hall in 1881. By 1891, it was used as a Mission hall for the Plymouth Brethren, before being taken over by the Baptists in 1915. It was adapted for use as a Roman Catholic church around 1950, with refurbishments carried out around 1986.