The Immaculate Conception and St Dominic

Introduction

The present church replaced the very small Pugin church founded by Blessed Dominic Barberi in 1842.

History

The church is listed at Grade II. The church was founded by Mother Margaret Hallahan, at the same time as the adjacent convent was established.

Charles Hansom designed the church, while the Sanctuary is the work of Gilbert Blount. The church was completed and consecrated in 1863.

The convent gave the church to the Diocese of Birmingham in 1968. A narthex was built at the west end of the nave in 2002.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is built of stone and has a slate roof. The entrance is through a small tower that was intended to be larger and is capped with a pyramidal roof. The nave has tall, six-bay arcades with high pointed arches springing from carved capitals on quatrefoil piers. The south transept contains the chest tomb of Bishop Ullathorne, made in 1889 by Joseph Hansom.

In the sanctuary, the high altar stands before an elaborately carved reredos with statues of Our Lady and St Dominic. The nave clerestory is lit by six spherical triangle windows, each with three trefoil openings. The south aisle has six tall, pointed arch traceried windows with buttresses between, that at the western end being larger than the rest. The main door is beneath a tall pointed hood with carved decoration.

The western elevation of the tower contains a tall pointed window in a deep reveal, and a projecting stair. The west end of the nave has a gabled projection beneath a large spherical triangle window with intricate tracery. At the eastern end an apse projects from the southern side of the sanctuary adjacent to the large south transept, and has blind panel arcades with cusped heads beneath a crenellated parapet and conical roof. The east elevation has two projecting gables, that to the sanctuary with a large, five-light east window.

The northern gable contains the organ loft and has a large, circular window with five quatrefoils. There are C20 pews in the nave and side aisles. North of the sanctuary, beyond an arcade of tall, pointed arches is the nuns' choir, which contains collegiate seating and an organ chamber. Above the door which gives access to the convent beyond is a gallery for sick or indisposed members of the nuns' community.

Both aisles have chapels at their eastern ends with elaborately carved altars and reredos and stencilled decoration which was restored in 2002. In the angles between the nave arcades and the crossing arch there are elaborately carved niches containing statues. In the crossing there is a forward altar with transepts on either side. The south transept also contains a richly carved altar and reredos.

To the right of the altar is an apse with rib vaulted ceiling supported on angel corbels and open pointed arches, and elaborately carved capitals. Between the apse arches are ornate metal railings. Adjacent in the boundary wall is a stone cross memorial to the soldiers and sailors of the congregation who fell in the First World War.

The repainting of the frescoes around these side altars was completed in 2002. An altar more in sympathy with the High Altar has been installed, and behind it the platform for the presiding priest's chair is a new addition to the Church. On the High Altar the small, circular panels portray scenes connected with the Blessed Sacrament: Abraham sacrificing Isaac; the offering of bread and wine by Melchizadech; and the feeding of Elias in the desert. The large panels above the altar are of the Assumption of Our Lady (with St Thomas Aquinas, St Dominic, St Pius V and St Hyacinth) and The death of St Dominic. The statues to the left and right of the altar are the two Patronesses of the Dominican order – St Mary Magdalen, patroness of preaching and penance, and St Catherine of Alexandria, patroness of theology and philosophy.