Roman Catholic Church of St Richard

Roman Catholic Church of St Richard

The Church of St Richard is a Roman Catholic church built in 1958 on Cawley Road in Chichester, designed by Tomei and Maxwell of London and constructed by Messrs A Booker and Son of Walberton. The stained glass was created by Gabriel Loire, a renowned French designer, and paintings were executed by David O'Connell.

The church is constructed of concrete portal frame with red and grey brick walls and a shallow-pitched corrugated roof. The plan is T-shaped, comprising a four-bay nave with north and south transepts of three bays each. The south transept contains a chapel and baptistery. A campanile is linked to the north-west of the building.

The main west entrance features a canopied porch connected by flat roof to the campanile, which has an openwork cap, clock, and prominent cross. Above the main door is an almost life-size depiction of the Crucifixion set against a large stained glass window of Our Blessed Lady, flanked by cement blocks in plain and diamond-pointed squares in a chequerboard pattern. The building is divided into bays by cement pilasters socketed into a moulded plastic eaves cornice. Below this, on the nave and west sides of the transepts, runs a continuous frieze of stained glass windows. Large stained glass windows occupy the gable ends of both transepts: the north window illustrates the life of St Richard of Chichester, whilst the south window depicts symbols of Baptism. The presbytery abuts the church at the east end.

Internally, the roof is supported by exposed concrete portal frames in the form of Tudor arches dividing the interior into bays and spanning the crossing diagonally. The main body has parquet flooring with Sepele mahogany benches matching the sanctuary floor. The altar, positioned at the meeting point of the nave and transepts, is constructed of Tinos green marble on a step and curb of Belgian black fossil marble. Behind the altar stands an altarpiece painting of the crucified Christ by David O'Connell, who also painted the Stations of the Cross on the walls of the nave and transepts. The ceiling above features gold-leaf tracery. The vestry is positioned behind the altar. At the end of the south transept is the Blessed Sacrament Chapel (formerly dedicated to Our Lady of Walsingham), which incorporates the Baptistery. The baptistery walls are of polished marble with Italian slate flooring, and the font is of white Portland stone with a design around its base in Westmorland slate, gold glass mosaic, and white Sicilian marble. A gallery above the baptistery is included in this space.

The interior is dominated by stained glass of dalle de verre construction—glass pieces set into a concrete and resin framework—which casts light throughout the church from every angle. This stained glass represents a major work of narrative design by internationally-renowned French designer Gabriel Loire (1904–96). The window over the west door depicts Our Blessed Lady, Mary the Mother of Christ, in heaven surrounded by angels. A clerestorey surrounds the nave and transepts, with four lights to each bay. The windows on the nave's south wall depict the Biblical story of the world's preparation for Christ's coming; those to the north show the period between Christ and the present day. Windows in the north transept depict the present-day church, whilst those in the south transept depict the laity. The main north transept window illustrates the life of St Richard, Bishop of Chichester from 1244 to 1253. The baptistery contains a large window with symbols of Baptism and new life.

The parish of Chichester's first Roman Catholic Church was built in 1855 as a small Victorian Gothic building at the junction of Market Avenue and Southgate, constructed with funds from private donation on land given by Anne, Countess of Newburgh of the Catholic Ratcliffe family. Before this church, mass was celebrated in a room at the Bedford Hotel in Southgate. The present church was built on a new site near the original location, also funded by parishioners, in 1958.