St. Mary of the Angels

Introduction

Saint Mary of the Angels in Batley is a Gothic Revival church built in 1870. The church is built of dressed stone with a pitched slate roof.

Architecture and furnishings

The church has a 4-bay buttressed nave with a porch to the right and an apsidal baptistry to the left. The nave windows are 2-light with stained glass and cusped heads with a single quatrefoil over. The front of the church is apsidal. The rear elevation has a central triple group of very tall lights with a sexfoil in the head.

The apsidal chancel is treated as a blind arcade filled with mosaic, above which are 9 paired 2-light stained glass clerestory windows. The chancel arch has 2 carved figures. There is a later gallery to the rear below which is a glass screen forming a vestibule. The church has an arched braced hammer beam roof.

The nave has a relieving arch in each bay. The rear elevation has a central doorway with a pointed arch and cambered head. The interior is plain but colourful.

Sacraments and pastoral care

The parish runs a Bereavement Support Group called 'The Journey' for anyone walking through loss, open to Catholics and non-Catholics, meeting in the St Mary's Parish Room.

Visiting

The parish has a St Mary's Social Club and Parochial Hall with rooms available to hire for family parties, baptisms, weddings and birthdays. The parish holds an annual November Fayre at St Mary’s Social Club.