Roman Catholic Church of St Gerard Majella

Roman Catholic Church of St Gerard Majella

This is a Roman Catholic parish church built in 1908–09 and designed by the architectural practice Pugin & Pugin in Gothic-Revival style, predominantly Perpendicular in character. The building is constructed of rock-faced, coursed Pennant stone with Bath stone dressings, and the roof is covered in Westmorland slate tiles. Modern powder-coated extruded aluminium rainwater goods have been added. Beneath the pews are timber floorboards, while the circulation space is finished in terrazzo.

The building is orientated according to ritual compass points with the sanctuary at its east end. At the west end is the narthex, flanked by a porch and a canted baptistery, with an organ gallery above. This narthex leads into a six-bay nave. Lean-to aisles run along each side, each with a chapel at its east end. Two confessionals open off the north aisle. The north door provides access to a corridor leading to the sacristy, with a staircase down to a crypt below. The steeply sloping site, descending from west to east, accommodates a crypt at the eastern end that extends westward and is visible in the side elevations.

The gabled west elevation is articulated by four offset buttresses and presents a symmetrical arrangement. At its centre is a paired lancet window with attenuated trefoils in the tracery, flanked by lower lancet windows. Below the central window sits a canopied niche containing a stone statue of St Gerard Majella, depicted with skull and crucifix, with single-light cusped-headed windows on either side. A moulded cill band runs across this elevation and continues around the other elevations. Slightly set back but continuing the composition are the single-storey porch to the north and the canted baptistery to the south. The porch has a gabled west entrance with a pointed arch doorway and an additional doorway on its east elevation; the granite foundation stone is set at a low level. Both the porch and baptistery incorporate carved, attenuated quatrefoils with Benedictine shields and emblems on their western flanks. The side elevations feature tripartite clerestorey and aisle windows, the latter separated by offset buttresses. The crypt is lit by paired quatrefoils to each bay. The gabled east elevation has a circular window to the sanctuary and another to the set-back south chapel, both with rectilinear tracery at the centre and curvilinear tracery to the margins. Below is the entrance door to the crypt with a dressed stone surround.

The sacristy occupies the north-east corner of the church. It has a moulded eaves cornice, and the north elevation features three single-light windows lighting the corridor from the church, which itself is lit by a four-light window. Each window is set within a square-headed opening with a dressed stone surround. Below the sacristy, at crypt level, are segmental-headed windows and a doorway. The south elevation is blank except for a segmental-headed doorway to the ground floor. The original end wall is denoted by a gable-end stack.

Internally, the west entrance porch leads into the narthex, which contains a marble and mosaic holy water stoup set in a pink marble Gothic surround, installed after the First World War. Above is a Della Robbia-style roundel of the Virgin and Child framed by a wreath. The narthex is separated from the nave by a timber and glazed screen with an openwork timber organ gallery above. The 19th-century organ, built by John Nicholson, was originally installed at Malvern Boys School. To the south of the narthex is the baptistery, featuring an octagonal stone font supported on marble columns. Separating both the baptistery and porch from the aisles are a pair of pointed arches with a central column. The arches between the porch and north aisle have been infilled.

The north and south aisles have lean-to, panelled roofs with stone corbels supporting braces to the principal rafters. The walls are fitted with Stations of the Cross comprising painted panels in carved timber frames. A stained glass memorial window adorns the south aisle. Towards the east end of the north aisle is a painting of St Gerard Majella in an alabaster frame with Gothic detailing. Two confessionals off the north aisle are each set behind a cambered arched recess with timber and leaded glass panelling. At the east end of the north aisle is the Lady Chapel with a Gothic altar of 1929, featuring Perpendicular carving, a central statue of the Virgin Mary beneath a carved canopy with pinnacle, and flanked by Della Robbia-style panels depicting the Annunciation and the Nativity. The chapel at the east end of the south aisle is dedicated to St Benedict and the Holy Souls. Its Gothic altar of 1924 was designed by Frank Moore Jr with stonework by Messrs R L Boulton & Sons of Cheltenham. The altar has pairs of Tuscan columns and a Perpendicular reredos with opus sectile panels made in Florence, depicting Saints Benedict, Richard, Elizabeth of Hungary, Mary Magdalene, John and Sebastian. Above is the circular stained glass window with curvilinear tracery; to the south is a stained glass memorial window of 1924 depicting Judgement Day.

The nave contains a six-bay arcade of fluted arches with hoodmoulds, springing from cylindrical piers with moulded bases and capitals. Above are tripartite clerestorey windows. The panelled wagon roof features arch-braced trusses supported on stone corbels. The sanctuary is similarly roofed. Stone altar rails to the sanctuary and side chapels were installed in the 1950s, along with the oak pulpit in the nave; the stone altar and lectern in the sanctuary are 1980s installations. The high altar of 1925 is thought to have been designed by Frank Moore Jr with stonework by H H Martyn & Co of Cheltenham. It comprises four pairs of octagonal columns (with pairs of pilasters to the rear wall) featuring foliate carved capitals and spandrels. The spandrels include the coat of arms of King Edmund the Martyr and a representation of the Trinity. Above the altar is a tabernacle, and to either side are an aumbry and a piscina with Perpendicular-style carving. The mosaic panels of the reredos were made in Venice and depict six angels playing musical instruments. The central three cusped panels of the stained glass east window show St Benedict and St Gerard adoring the Sacred Heart, with surrounding curvilinear tracery.

The north door accesses the corridor leading to the sacristy, which retains its cast iron fireplace and the staircase to the crypt beneath.