Holy Rood, Watford

Introduction

Holy Rood, Watford, in the Archdiocese of Westminster, is an outstanding late Gothic revival church built between 1889 and 1900 by J F Bentley. Stephen Taprell Holland commissioned the church, buying the land and employing John Francis Bentley to build and furnish it with no expense spared.

History

Cardinal Vaughan laid the tower's foundation stone in May 1894. In 1899, the temporary high altar was replaced by the present altar and tabernacle, and gas lighting was replaced with electricity in the same year. The tower, baptistry, Holy Ghost chapel and north aisle were completed in 1900. The church was consecrated on 5th July 1900, with Bishop Brindle officiating on behalf of Cardinal Vaughan.

Architecture and furnishings

The exterior walls are finished in knapped flint facing and stone dressing, with a roof of red tiles and lead. The church has a total interior length of 98 feet, with a nave 65 feet wide including aisles. The rood loft runs between two interior towers across the front of the chancel, with a great crucifix rising about 6 ft above it.

The altar frontal is a single slab of red marble edged with pearl, gold and green mosaic. The stained glass includes an east window by Bentley (1899) and a west window of 1904 by Burlison and Grylls. The church has a heptagonal marble font with oak cover. The church has two canopied shrines with alabaster statues, one of the Virgin and one of the Sacred Heart.

The church occupies an almost square site in the centre of Watford, bounded on three sides by Market Street, Percy Road and Exchange Road. The church has two public entrances at the western end: the main entrance opens onto Market Street, and another opens onto Percy Road and leads into the base of the tower. The nave has a plain, elegant design with clerestory windows above arcades which continue across the transepts, and the western end consists of a plain wall enclosing a huge window of twelve lights. The north transept is larger than its twin on the south because the church is extended on the north side by the choir to the left of the Lady Chapel, and it contains a commanding window that stretches tall and slim almost from floor to ceiling.

The north-west tower was built 1894-1900, with flint below, a top band of flint and stone chequer work, a bell-stage banded flint and stone with two light openings, panelled battlements and a lead spirelet over the corner stair turret. The Lady Chapel is screened from the ambulatory by a gilded ironwork grille, a particularly fine example of the blacksmith's craft, with crowned monograms of Mary alternating with fleur de lys above a cornice pierced with the words 'Pulchra es'.

The nave's south wall contains two four-light windows with tinting that produces a mellow golden light, depicting Old Testament figures including Jacob, Zacharias, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Moses, David, Ocee and Malachias; these windows were designed by Bentley. The Baptistry is situated at the north west corner of the church, at the base of the tower, with a carved column at the centre above which is set an angel carrying a shield emblazoned with the head of John the Baptist. The chancel is superbly decorated: the lower arcade columns are adorned with ballflowers and have carved capitals with vine leaf and grape relief of high quality; the north side has a projecting wooden aumbry painted in gilt and deep red. The altar steps are of pure white marble and the sanctuary flooring is partly marble and partly encaustic tile, some of which bear Bentley's favourite motif, a lion's head with its tongue sticking out.

Music and liturgy

Within three years of the church's opening, the Watford Observer reported that the choir's sacred music was drawn from some of the finest composers. In 1925, the choral parts of a pageant at Abbots Langley commemorating Adrian IV were sung by Holy Rood choir.

Visiting

The parish runs an RCIA course for those who wish to learn more about the faith or become a Catholic. The chancel is architecturally unusual, with triple arcades supporting a gallery lit by large clear windows. The ambulatory passes between the chancel and the chapels and behind the high altar. The first arch on either side of the chancel is open to the ambulatory and the side chapels.

The second arch on the north side is closed by a gilded ironwork grille with a cornice inscribed with the prayer of the penitent thief and Christ's answer. The opposite arch on the south side contains the oaken sedilia with traceried panels and a canopy. On the south side is an alcoved piscina with a stone basin and shelf backed by green and gold diaper work, topped by an ogee arch with gilt pendants and fleur de lys finial. The tympana of both third arches are filled with opus sectile pictures, the north representing the Entombment and the south the Agony in the Garden, from cartoons by George Daniels.

Close to the rood loft the chancel wall on either side is painted with an angel seated on a vine stem and carrying a scroll. On the north pier is a carved oaken pulpit and sounding board, resting on a stone corbel that tapers to a carving of a squirrel among oak leaves gnawing at an acorn. On the west side of the south pier, a mural of two winged angels supporting a deep red tapestry forms a background to the shrine of the Sacred Heart. The chancel arch moulding carries projecting paterae carved with the words 'ADORAMUS TE'.

The tabernacle is a glowing gem of craftsmanship in gilded bronze set with enamel and precious stones and surmounted by a pelican. The reredos is canopied and pinnacled in typical fourteenth century style, with four main panels painted with white robed angels carrying the emblems of the evangelists. On the north side of the reredos is a wall painting of Christ wearing a red robe and crowned with thorns being mocked by the crowd. On the south side of the reredos is a wall painting of the betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The east window shows Christ in glory with rays of light beaming from his wounded hands, feet and side, with Our Lady kneeling on his right and Saint Joseph on his left. The east window includes the proto-martyrs St John Houghton, Saint Alban and Saint Stephen, with stones carried in the folds of a ruby coloured cloak. The east window also shows Saint Thomas Becket with the sword of his martyrdom in his head, Saint John Fisher in cardinal's robe, and Saint Paul carrying his sword of martyrdom. The altar steps are of white marble, with tiles set in the risers forming the words 'Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus' and 'Pro nobis obediens usque ad mortem'. The Lady Chapel window is of three lights and traceried like that in Saint John's Chapel, with Our Lady enthroned with the Christ Child in the centre light.