Church of Our Lady & St Alphege, Bath

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Church of Our Lady & St Alphege
Church of our Lady and St Alphege, Oldfield Park, Bath.jpg
The church in the background, with the church hall to the fore.
Somerset UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Church of Our Lady & St Alphege
England location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Church of Our Lady & St Alphege
51°22′24″N2°22′35″W / 51.3734°N 2.3763°W / 51.3734; -2.3763
Location City of Bath, Somerset
CountryEngland
Denomination Roman Catholic
Website
History
Consecrated 1954
Architecture
Heritage designationGrade II*
Architect(s) Giles Gilbert Scott
Style Romanesque
Years built1927-29
Administration
Province Province of Birmingham
Diocese Diocese of Clifton
Deanery St Oliver Plunkett [1]
Clergy
Priest(s) The Reverend Malcolm Smeaton BSc
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameChurch of Our Lady and St Alphege, with attached presbytery
Designated4 August 1975
Reference no.1396234
The loggia Our Lady and St Alphege's Church, Oldfield Park, Bath.jpg
The loggia

The Church of Our Lady & St Alphege is a Roman Catholic church located in the Oldfield Park suburb of Bath, Somerset. The church was built between 1927 and 1929 to the designs of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, [2] the architect of Liverpool Cathedral. The church is modelled on the Early Christian basilica of Santa Maria [2] in Cosmedin, Rome. It is a Grade II* listed building. [3]

The exterior is Romanesque, of Bath Stone rubble. [3] A three-arched loggia with Byzantine columns and capitals [2] surrounds it. The red roof tiles were imported from Lombardy. [3] The full-height campanile intended by Scott was not built, due to fears over the strength of the foundations. [2]

The interior columns have capitals with figurative carvings by William Drinkwater Gough. Those on the columns on the north side depict scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, those on the columns on the south, scenes from the life of St Alphege and those supporting the choir and organ loft on the west end show persons associated with the church, including Scott himself. [4]

Scott wrote of the church, "It has always been one of my favourite works." [2] Relatively unknown since its construction, the church was overlooked by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner in his 1958 North Somerset and Bristol edition of The Buildings of England. [4] Its importance as an "accomplished composition by (a) nationally-renowned architect" [3] was recognised in 2010 when its listed building status was upgraded to Grade II*. [3] Michael Forsyth in the Pevsner Architectural Guide to Bath describes it as a building that "cannot fail to astonish and delight." [2]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Parishes". Clifton Diocese. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Forsyth 2007 , p. 291
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Historic England. "Church of Our Lady and St Alphege (Grade II*) (1396234)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  4. 1 2 "St Alphege's Church, Bath - A Favourite Building of Giles Gilbert Scott". Saintalphege.org.uk. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2012.

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