Roman Catholic Church of St Cuthbert Mayne, memorial and attached walls and steps

Roman Catholic Church of St Cuthbert Mayne

This church is constructed of dressed stone including slate stone and Polyphant stone arranged to create a polychrome effect. The roofs are slate-covered with coped gable ends or moulded eaves cornices. A copper dome sits at the east end and a leaded half-dome at the west end, with a flat roof over the Lady Chapel. Cast iron guttering bears the initials CBL (Charles Baskerville Langdon) on the hopperheads.

The building is oriented approximately west to east and comprises a nave with a domed chancel at the east end and an apsidal baptistery at the west end. To the north lies the Chapel and Shrine to St Cuthbert Mayne with a two-storey vestry. To the south are the porch and Lady Chapel.

The exterior presents an irregular appearance with varied eaves lines and window types. The west elevation features a round-arched gable end with a Diocletian window of reticulated tracery at its centre, beneath which sits the apsidal baptistery with a lead-covered roof. To the right is a round-arched bellcote. The south porch has a three-light, flat-faced mullion window with shouldered, round-arched heads and Art Nouveau style leadwork, with a doorway on its right return. To the right of the porch is a plate tracery window with Art Nouveau style leaded lights beneath a Romanesque arch, arranged as two lights with shouldered, round-arched heads and a square-headed light above with an inverted, shouldered round-arched base. This window type is repeated on the Lady Chapel and north elevation. Further right is an intersecting tracery rose window.

The Lady Chapel forms a flat-roofed projection to the south elevation's east end, with a plate tracery window beneath a Romanesque arch on its west return. The east end displays the chancel with its domed copper roof and moulded eaves cornice featuring billet detail. The chancel has four windows with shouldered, round-arched heads. The two-storey vestry occupies the right end of the north elevation, with coped gable ends and an intersecting tracery rose window to the east gable. The upper floor is reached by steps with coped walls leading to an open timber porch on a landing with a half-segmental arch. Both ground and first floors have four-light, double-chamfered stone mullion windows with leaded lights. To the west of the vestry is the Chapel and Shrine of St Cuthbert, with a three-light, chamfered stone mullion window bearing carved shouldered, round-arched heads and an oculus window to the gable. To its left are a plate tracery window beneath a Romanesque arch and a boiler house.

The interior features snecked Polyphant stone walls with a plastered, barrel-vaulted ceiling having a moulded cornice with billet enrichment. The chancel is marked by a semi-circular chancel arch with billet decoration, supported on polished Polyphant stone columns with cushion capitals, each side of which depicts a different Christian symbol. The organ occupies the north side with sedilla below, followed by a flat-headed doorway to the vestry with a round-arched tympanum featuring billet detailing. Above the doorway is a Diocletian window of reticulated tracery. The left side contains a round-arched opening with billet detailing to the Chapel and Shrine of St Cuthbert Mayne, with carved panelling to the reveals. The west wall of the chapel has an arcade to the three-light window, with carved shouldered, round-arched heads above. The south side of the church contains a flat-headed doorway with chequerboard detailing to its surround and a moulded cornice above, leading to the Lady Chapel with coffered ceiling. To its left is an arched opening to the Lady Chapel with wrought iron railing. The south porch includes a corresponding stone arcade to the three-light window.

The high altar is constructed of granite supported on polished Polyphant stone columns with granite cushion capitals. The font, designed by Arthur Langdon, is of polished Polyphant stone with ornately-carved Celtic decoration to the bowl above a shaft decorated with fish. Two aedicule-framed niches occupy the Chapel and Shrine of St Cuthbert Mayne, with the eastern niche forming part of the reredos to the marble altar. Ceramic medallions flank each niche. The marble altar in the Lady Chapel has a Romanesque arch above containing a round glazed ceramic of the Virgin and Child. The Stations of the Cross on the south side of the church are given in memory of Arthur Langdon.

Associated with the church are a south porch forecourt with low granite-coped walls, granite steps and a bridge on a half-segmental arch to the vestry, and a Celtic cross memorial to Charles Baskerville Langdon at the west end of the Lady Chapel.