Roman Catholic Church of St Teresa of Lisieux and attached presbytery

Roman Catholic Church of St Teresa of Lisieux and attached presbytery

This Roman Catholic church was built in 1958–59, with an attached presbytery constructed shortly after circa 1959–60. Both were designed by EC Francis. The church has undergone some minor later alterations.

The church and presbytery are constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond, with plain tiled roofs. The church has large brick and tile kneelers to the gable ends. Windows throughout the church are timber; the presbytery has early 21st-century uPVC replacements.

The church is aligned south-west to north-east and follows a longitudinal plan. It contains a wide nave with narrow circulation aisles, a narrower apsidal sanctuary, two square projections at the west end (a former porch now serving as the Lady Chapel to the north, and a baptistery to the south), a sacristy, and a south tower. The presbytery is attached to the south-east, adjoining the sacristy.

The church exterior is described as a mix of Georgian and Swedish Modern. The west end features a tall round-arched window with intersecting glazing bars, with the foundation stone set below. The south elevation has an entrance with a pair of timber doors in the left-hand bay. To the right, the flat-roofed baptistery projects forward, beyond which stands the tower. This is square and slightly tapering, with concave chamfers to the top corners, topped by a glazed octagon and a needle spirelet. Further right are two flat-arched casement windows and two pedimented dormers. The north elevation has a similar arrangement, though with three pedimented dormers. Both north and south sides of the sanctuary have tall, multi-paned windows. The east end features a low apse with a domed roof clad in modern composite sheeting.

The presbytery is attached to the south-east of the church and shares its materials and neoclassical style. It is a roughly square, two-storey building with dormers set into a flat-topped mansard roof at first-floor level. A flat-roofed kitchen and garage wing extends to the north-east; the garage is now part of the house. Ground-floor windows on the front and south sides have tile drip-moulds. All windows have been replaced with double-glazed uPVC.

The church interior has exposed brickwork walls, except for the sanctuary and ceilings, which are plastered and painted white. The west end bay functions as a narthex, separated from the main church by a low timber screen containing five glazed archways with intersecting glazing bars; the central archway has a pair of doors. The broad nave is lit by dormers and the west window, with a woodblock floor and plain timber pews.

The five-bay arcade has round-arched openings leading to narrow side aisles under lateral brick arches behind the high nave arcade. The nave roof is supported by arched, transverse concrete trusses rising from scrolled brackets with dentilled cornices. Pendant light fittings hang from each bracket. Sanctuary furnishings are in matching stone and likely date from a post-Vatican II reordering. The wooden sanctuary crucifix may be the work of Estcourt Clack, as described in accounts of the church's opening.

The former north porch now serves as the Lady Chapel and contains a statue of the Virgin Mary and Child on an octagonal timber pedestal supporting a timber canopy on a fluted pillar. Opposite is the baptistery, which has an octagonal stone font on a stepped stone base with an elaborate painted scrolled timber cover topped by a bird. An organ by George Osmond of Taunton is located at the east end of the north aisle.

The presbytery has a corridor plan with rooms leading from it and has undergone some refurbishment.