Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Herne Bay

Introduction

A south-west tower and spire were intended for the church but never built. The church was designed by the London architect Albert Vicars (1840–96). The church was built at the expense of Dionysius and Catherine Broderick. The architect's exterior design is displayed in the presbytery.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is built of coursed Kentish Ragstone with freestone dressings and window tracery, and has Welsh slate roofs. The church has a tall aisled five-bay nave and two-bay chancel under a continuous pitched roof, with a west porch and the adjoining base of an intended south-west tower. The church includes three good quality elaborate carved stone and marble altars, a font, aumbry, piscina and 1907 carved Stations of the Cross. The rose window has stained glass depicting Christ in Majesty amongst angels and saints.

The original central altar was brought forward in the sanctuary as part of a re-ordering. The marble stoup between the twin west porch doors is dedicated to the founders of the church. The base of the intended south-west tower contains an octagonal marble font supported on colonnettes with an octagonal wooden font cover with brass fittings. The north and south aisle arcades have five bays with wide pointed chamfered arches on cylindrical stone columns with moulded capitals and bases.

The nave has a canted and boarded timber roof with principal arch-braced trusses carried down onto marble wall shafts. The aisle roofs have exposed timbers with main beams braced down onto the spandrels of the nave arcades. The western end bay of the south aisle has three arched openings into confessional boxes. There is no chancel arch.

The sanctuary extends for two bays east of the nave and the first of these bays has blind pointed arches on each side carried down to the ground. The side altars are situated directly at the end of the nave aisles. A walkway was intended between the high altar and the rose windows and one arched opening survives on the north side. The west front has a lean-to porch across the nave with twin pointed arched doors.

Above the west porch is a large four-light arched window with elaborate tracery of trefoils, circles and a sexfoil. Projecting to the south-west is the base of the intended tower with an arched two-light window. Exposed brickwork at the south-west angle of the nave shows where the tower was to be attached. The west end of the north aisle has a two-light window with trefoiled heads and motif above.

The north and south walls are each of seven bays, divided by pilaster strips to the clerestory and buttresses to the aisles. The first five bays of the nave have lean-to aisles on both sides with three-light traceried windows with trefoils and similar but smaller windows to the clerestory. The sixth and seventh windows on the north side comprise a gabled transept containing a sacristy within the width of the aisle. The north transept has a triple window to the upper floor, two two-light windows with Caernarvon arches under relieving arches to the ground floor, an arched doorcase with a drip-mould and two stepped lancet windows above.

The south side is similar but the westernmost bay of the aisle has a penticed projection with three quatrefoil windows lighting confessional boxes. The east end has a large rose window with elaborate tracery but the base is unfinished brickwork. The timber benches are original. Some of the carved Stations of the Cross on the aisle walls are dated 1907.

Both the high altar and the side altars have elaborate carved stone and marble carved reredos, the high altar additionally incorporating a marble tabernacle. The north wall has an aumbry and the south wall a piscina. The organ pipes remain but the organ has been removed.

As of 2017, the church has a statue of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, which came from the Franciscan Study Centre in Canterbury. The statue has an inscription stating that devotion to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart was approved by Rome in 1875. The parish offers opportunities to provide music at the church.

Parish life

The parish supports the community of Masi-ma-Nimba in the Democratic Republic of Congo through the Passionist Sisters. The parish has a 'Home Mission' collection. The parish has a 'SVP Helpline'. The parish offers a 'Teach Me to Pray' programme facilitated by the Southwark Diocesan Spirituality Commission.

Regular events

The parish observes the World Day of Migrants and Refugees. The parish celebrates Harvest Time, collecting non-perishable food items for distribution. The parish participates in CAFOD Family Fast Day, with envelopes available at the back of the church. The parish has a Lectio Divina group that meets online.