Catholic Church of St. Mary

The Catholic Church of St. Mary is a building primarily of the late 18th century, with additions and alterations in the 19th century. It displays a plain Gothic style influenced by North Italian architecture.

The front elevation is constructed from coursed red sandstone rubble with Bath stone dressings and a Welsh slate roof. It features three bays, with a central entrance that projects from the base of the tower. The double plank doors are recessed within a pointed Venetian Gothic arch framed by attached half-columns with stiff-leaf capitals. Flanking the door are two-light windows in ashlar frames with dripmoulds above. Above the door is a window with paired tall lancets. The projecting tower above is supported by paired pointed arches. The open bell stage has paired openings with a central colonette of Lombardic type facing in each direction, and accommodates two bells. The tower is topped by a dentil cornice, bell-cast rectangular spire, and coped gables on either side.

The side elevations are rendered, revealing two distinct phases of construction: two windows date to 1871 at the street end, three to the centre from 1793, and a further two bays from 1838 at the rear. The roofline is continuous and stepped downwards towards the rear. The 1871 windows are two-light with cinquefoil heads, while the earlier windows have pointed-headed sashes. The 1838 windows are pointed sashes with intersecting tracery. The east (liturgical) elevation is pebble-dashed, featuring two windows, a stepped gable, and a gablet cross.

Inside, the church is plainly decorated with a corniced ceiling. A triple sanctuary arch now forms a small apse flanked by doors. Galleries, likely from the 1838 work, are present, along with a staircase to the rear with square balusters, turned newels, and a swept handrail, all from the same period. A distinctive font in the baptistery features a serpent carved in alabaster, likely dating from 1888. The church holds relics associated with St John Kemble of Welsh Newton, who was executed at Hereford in 1679 and canonised in 1970 as one of the forty martyrs of England and Wales. These relics include a 16th-century oak table altar used by Kemble at Pembridge Castle. Other furnishings include timber confessionals from 1875 and a Lady altar in the gallery above the sanctuary, featuring a 17th-century oak chest and a 19th-century Gothic reredos.

Stained glass windows include a c.1840 depiction of the Virgin and Child in the south sanctuary, originally from the Catholic chapel of Coedanghred (demolished in 1924), a composite south nave window incorporating angels, cherubs, and putti of early 19th-century character, possibly also from Coedanghred, and a north nave window depicting the Incredulity of St Thomas, dating from the late 19th century and executed by John Hardman & Co.