Church Of St Charles Borromeo With Attached Presbyteries

Church of St Charles Borromeo with Attached Presbyteries

A Roman Catholic chapel, now sacristy, with church extension and two attached presbyteries, located on Heath Road, Weybridge.

The original chapel and presbytery date to around 1834, built by and for James Taylor. The church addition and a later presbytery were constructed in 1880-81 by architect A E Purdie for James Molineux Taylor and Marianne Taylor, with subsequent alterations and additions.

The original chapel is of brick, stuccoed and incised and painted to imitate Bath stone, with a mastic roof. The original presbytery is of gault brick with a slate roof. The later church addition and presbytery are of rock-faced stone with ashlar dressings and brick to the rear of the presbytery, with plain tile roofs.

The original chapel follows a Greek cross plan with a central dome, towers to the west (containing stairs) and east (over the chancel), shallow transepts to north and south, a lower lean-to in the north-west angle, and a tower porch with access to the crypt in the north-east angle. It is executed in Gothic style with four-centred-arched windows containing sashes with glazing bars or diamond-paned metal casements. Offset angle buttresses with gabled finials support the structure, those on the inner sides of towers rising from head corbels. The towers are embattled, the gabled transepts have flanking buttresses rising into crocketed finials on the south side, and a cornice below the dome is surmounted by a glazed ogee light. The original western entrance doorway has been replaced by a two-light window, with access now provided from the 1880s church.

The original presbytery, attached to the chapel on the north-east, comprises two storeys with basement and is square on plan. It features offset angle buttresses and a central gable with an oculus in the tympanum on each side. A segmental-arched doorway with four-panel door is on the east side, which is otherwise blind, as is the west side. The north side displays a similar basement doorway with a formerly-shuttered four-centred-arched window to its right, two similar windows above, and two segmental-arched windows to the first floor, all with projecting stone sills and broken diamond-paned windows. The presbytery was derelict at the time of inspection.

The 1880 church comprises a four-bay nave with north-west porch, a west stair tower (added later), a south chapel and north transept with an added organ loft and gabled staircase and bellcote, and a two-bay chancel with a Lady Chapel. It is executed in Decorated style with offset buttresses, a traceried rose window to the west end, nave windows of three cusped lights with quatrefoils over, similar but two-light windows to the chancel, and otherwise simpler lancets and cusped lights. Gableted coping adorns the kneelers to gables and between nave and chancel, with cross finials and ridge tiles to the chancel. The 1880s presbytery to the north-east is not of special interest.

Interior of the original chapel: The plan and fittings survive virtually intact, including a gallery with a wrought-iron balustrade featuring a grapevine design, glazed tympana above the gallery, and the position of the former altar (now removed to the Lady Chapel). An inset mahogany pulpit with stairs from the former presbytery remains in place. The chapel contains stained glass by Hailer.

Interior of the 1880s church: The original plan and fittings survive, including a west gallery with an openwork balustrade on arch-braced posts. A sanctuary arch rests on marble columns with angel brackets. The nave features corbelled, arch-braced, collared roof trusses with Y-shaped upper trusses, collar purlin and wind braces; the chancel roof is panelled timber. Tessellated floors cover the chancel and Lady Chapel. A polished stone pulpit, cusped arcaded altar rail, richly-carved ciborium, tabernacle, mandola-backed exposition throne and baldachino with finials and statues, and niched plaster statues between windows are present. The walls and roof of the sanctuary are decorated with painted stencil work. The church contains nave pews and a good collection of stained glass, possibly by Cox. A tomb of the Duchess of Nemours with a recumbent effigy by L Chapu and a memorial tablet to James Taylor and members of his family are housed within.

History: The original chapel and presbytery were built shortly after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1834 by James Taylor (1795/6-1846), an important figure involved in many pioneering early 19th-century Catholic building projects. The chapel served as a place of worship and burial for the Orleans family, exiled from France and staying at nearby Claremont, although their bodies have since been removed.

The original chapel is significant as a fine early example of early 19th-century Catholic chapel architecture. The later church is notable as an unusually unaltered example of late 19th-century Catholic High Victorian church decoration.