Our Lady of Good Counsel and St. Gregory

Introduction

Our Lady of Good Counsel and Saint Gregory in Birmingham was designed by Philip Chatwin in the neo-Georgian style and built in 1933-4.

History

From 1899 Mass was said in a former coach house behind properties fronting Three Shires Oak Road in Bearwood. In 1909 Bearwood became an independent mission and the Galton family gave land for a permanent Catholic church. Major Hubert Galton withdrew his support after a dispute and instead funded the nearby Church of Our Lady and St Hubert in Warley. The foundation stone was laid on 3 May 1933 by Archbishop Thomas Williams, and the church opened in 1934. An account in the parish file in the Diocesan Archives, probably by the architect, described the design as 'an adaptation of the kind of work common in the reign of Queen Anne'.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is steel framed and faced in red brick laid in Flemish bond, with brick and stone dressings, and roofs covered in double Roman tiles. The building has its ritual east end at the northern end, with nave and sanctuary under a single roof and a narthex with organ gallery above at the west end. The west elevation has a niche containing a stone statue of St Gregory the Great, framed by a stone aedicule with a segmental pediment. The interior has a shallow barrel-vaulted ceiling extending over the nave and sanctuary with plastered transverse ribs.

In the fourth bay of the nave on the north side is an oak and gilded shrine to the Sacred Heart set within a richly carved open-pedimented surround. The chancel has a balustraded oak communion rail with metal gates, and a coffered vaulted ceiling with rosettes. The marble font has been moved from the narthex, where it was beneath a stained glass window depicting the Baptism of Our Lord, to the sanctuary. At the east end is a panelled oak reredos with Corinthian pilasters and an elaborate oak baldachino supported on Corinthian columns, all with gilded detail and surmounted on a black and grey marble base.

The Lady Chapel has a shallow barrel-vaulted ceiling, oak panelling to the walls, and a green and white marble altar with an oak and glazed tabernacle set into the wall above. The stained glass windows, confined to the Lady Chapel and the narthex, are by Hardman & Co and are more recent than the church; one window in the chapel is dated 1960.

Parish life

The parish has a school, St Gregory's School, linked from the website. Parishioners have formed a WhatsApp group to keep in touch and coordinate pastoral efforts.

The parish provides a printable prayer booklet for families. The parish offers a Year of Prayer page. The Liturgy of the Hours can be found at the UNIVERSALIS website or mobile app. The parish website links to the WeBelieve festival.