St Paul – Caldicot

Introduction

The interior was designed to meet the liturgical requirements of the Second Vatican Council, with the altar the focal point, no seating more than thirty feet from this and no communion rails.

Architecture and furnishings

The building is a segment of a circle on plan, with radial seating converging on the altar. The exterior is faced in brick, with stone to the curved external walls of the sanctuary and chapel. The roof slopes up towards the sanctuary, with steel beams carrying a roof originally finished with copper. The curved outer wall of the nave is punctuated by reinforced concrete 'flying buttresses', a trademark feature used by Price elsewhere.

Alongside the main entrance is a tall, narrow brick campanile with attached cross. The walls are of fair faced pale brick, the floors carpeted over woodblock in the sanctuary, and the roof has acoustic panels between the steel beams. The sanctuary is raised on a curved dais of two steps. It is top-lit by a raised circular rooflight and by a wide high window in the back wall containing stained glass depicting the Nativity, designed and installed by John Hardman Studios.

The altar is of simple design, of Forest of Dean stone with a tapering base. The Blessed Sacrament chapel is behind a glazed screen, and has a small circular altar and tabernacle with granite plinth flanked by wooden statues of the Holy Family. This space is also lit in part by a circular rooflight. The hymnbook gives numbers for the sung 'new' Sanctus and the Penitential Act.

Visiting

The parish runs an SVP Conference covering Chepstow, Caldicot and Magor. A memorial garden at the front of the church is available for parishioners to lay flowers for deceased relatives or sit for quiet reflection. Order of Mass Sheets are available at the front of the church.