Our Lady of Fatima, Harlow

Introduction

Our Lady of Fatima in Harlow, in the Diocese of Brentwood, was designed by Gerard Goalen in 1953-1954 and built in 1958-1960.

History

The church's foundation stone was laid on 6 December 1958 by the Right Reverend Bernard Patrick Wall, Bishop of Brentwood from 1955 to 1969. The church was opened and blessed by the Bishop of Brentwood on 26 March 1960. In 2001, Our Lady of Fatima was closed due to problems with the stained-glass walls. Following the raising of £400,000 by parishioners along with a grant of £135,000 from English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund, repairs commenced in 2003 and the church reopened in 2005. It closed again in 2017 to allow the cross and orb to be removed from the spire for safety reasons.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is T-shaped on plan with a central crossing occupied by a large apron-shaped sanctuary. The central needle spire is of plywood sheathed in copper. The glass in the transepts depicts the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary while the slightly later (1961) glass in the nave shows the Tree of Jesse and the Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal in 1917. The altar has a white Roman marble mensa and black Belgian marble legs.

A pointed niche contains a figure of Christ, King and Priest by the sculptor Daphne Hardy Henrion. The sanctuary is enclosed on the north, south and west sides by streamlined bench pews with pre-cast concrete frames and mahogany seats and kneelers, designed by Goalen and assembled by members of the parish. Stations of the cross are grouped in the east aisles of the north and south transepts, made of Hopwood stone by Mrs Foord-Kelsey. The Blessed Sacrament Chapel was created in the late C20 from a former study area linked to the sacristies when a small section of the wall was removed to connect it with the main body of the church.

The nave and transept roofs are comprised of wood-wool slabs supported on pre-cast concrete purlins and clad in long strip copper sheets. The altar rails are of white Roman marble supported by black Belgian marble columns. The south narthex contains a terracotta figure of Our Lady of Fatima (originally in the Lady Chapel) by Mrs Scott Pitcher. The church has a pierced mosaic screen with a gradine supporting four high altar candlesticks designed by Goalen and made by Anthony Hawksley (1921-1991). The Lady Chapel has an early-C21 figure of Our Lady of Fatima against a background of grey mosaic tiles.

Music and liturgy

The organ loft sits directly above the altar screen, with its pipes behind a slatted timber screen, reached by a spiral staircase at the rear and connected to an electronic organ on the church floor near the sanctuary.

Parish life

The parish has an internal altar servers communication group for altar servers. The parish has a readers rota for its readers. The parish is served by Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette.