The Sacred Heart

Introduction

The church is built in the thirteenth-century Early English Gothic Revival style, using red brick in English bond with a limestone plinth and dressings.

History

The rebuilt church, rededicated to the Sacred Heart, was opened by Bishop Riddell of Northampton on 9 July 1902. The rood screen was not transferred to St Ives, and two original stained-glass windows and other original furnishings were destroyed by an act of vandalism in 1906. The church was erected in 1843 as the Church of St Andrew in Cambridge to a design by AWN Pugin, and re-erected in St Ives in 1902 as the Church of the Sacred Heart by John Morley of Cambridge and Edward W Robb of St Ives. In 1899, George Pauling, a railway engineer and Catholic convert, purchased a small wooden building at 2 East Street to serve as a chapel.

Much of the building material was transported by barge, via the River Cam and Great Ouse, to St Ives, where it was re-erected on Needingworth Road. In 2017, a roof was placed over the small internal courtyard between the church, presbytery and 1978 addition to provide a multi-purpose space known as the La Salette room (not of special interest).

Architecture and furnishings

The church has a four-bay nave arcade of double-chamfered pointed arches carried on circular and octagonal piers with octagonal capitals and semi-octagonal responds. The sanctuary is raised by one step and carpeted, with the floor elsewhere being parquet. The tabernacle behind the altar is believed to have been manufactured by John Hardman Jr of Hardman and Company to Pugin's design. The octagonal Caen stone font, C13 in style, with a carved quatrefoil, wooden cover and a base of four short columns, is by Pugin; it was originally inside the north door but moved to the east end of the north aisle in 1978.

The Lady altar at the east end of the south aisle is of carved oak and bears the inscription MATER PURISSIMA / ORA PRO NOBIS; its exact date is unknown but probably post-dates the 1902 rebuilding. The stained-glass lancet windows above the high altar are those originally from the Church of St Andrew, Cambridge, designed by Pugin and made by William Wailes of Newcastle. A memorial window above the Lady Altar was donated in memory of Mary Agnes Norman, a parishioner, while a window above the Baptismal Font depicts the symbols of Baptism, both installed in 1979.

Two stained-glass windows installed in 2002 include the Centenary Window in the south aisle depicting the removal of the church from Cambridge to St Ives, and a second in the north aisle depicting St Felix, St Etheldreda and St Edmund. The foundation stone in the sanctuary bears the inscription 'A XP O / ANNO SALUTIS / MCMII / AD FIDEM REDEANT ANGLI' (Christ the Alpha and Omega / The year of Salvation / 1902 / May the English return to the faith). The church's wooden door, which probably comes from the Cambridge church, has two decorative strap hinges with flowing scrollwork.

The church's gabled west end is surmounted by a gabled stone bellcote with two pointed openings with foliate-stopped hoodmoulds. The church's gabled east end has stepped triple lancets to the nave, with a small trefoil directly above the centre light. The church's sacristy has a two-storey structure with a pitched roof at right-angles to the nave roof, set behind a triangular gable with corbelled kneelers. The church's nave roof has principal rafters carried down onto timber wall posts along with collars with raking struts and wrought-iron ties.

The church's interior retains a range of high-quality internal fixtures and fittings designed by Pugin and undertaken by noted craftsmen of their day, including the Caen stone altar and the stained glass windows above the altar. The church's use of round and octagonal piers illustrates Pugin's endeavour towards a correct vocabulary in church architecture. The church's relocation from Cambridge represents a local response to introduce liturgical worship to serve the rapidly expanding Catholic congregation of St Ives.

The church's wooden beamed ceiling was rebuilt to the original design, but the steeply pitched roof had a clerestory added to give more light. The gabled west end fronts Needingworth Road and displays two lancet windows within chamfered quoined surrounds, set one above the other in a central projecting section. The north and south sides have four-bay lean-to aisles, above which are four pairs of pointed clerestory windows within recessed stone surrounds with pointed segmental arches and gauged brick heads. On the north side, a porch with a stone-coped kneelered gable projects from the westernmost bay, featuring a pointed doorway with a double-chamfered quoined surround and a foliate-stopped hoodmould.

Music and liturgy

The parish maintains a choir, and parishioners may serve as lectors, altar servers, Eucharistic ministers, or choir members. Father John Peter Arendzen, the first parish priest, laid the foundation stone on Sunday 16 March 1902.

A timber baldacchino and new communion rails were added in 1960 and removed in 1978. Allens of Brampton built an extension in May 1978 to accommodate more parishioners for Mass and to provide a social area. The church is built of red brick with stone window casements. The sacristy has two floors and a loft, and its first floor served as priest's accommodation before the presbytery was built.

An additional window was added to the upper part of the back wall under the bellcote. The High Altar is the original Pugin design, carved of Caen stone in three sections. The centre quatrefoil of the altar shows the Lamb of God carrying a banner of Victory, surrounded by the symbols of the four evangelists. The quatrefoils on the left and right of the altar bear figures of winged angels.

The altar stone was originally lime-washed, then subjected to multiple coats of paint, and not until 2002 was it restored to its original state. The centre window features Our Lady with the Child Jesus; to the left is St Andrew carrying the saltire cross, and to the right is St Felix, patron of the Diocese of East Anglia. Above the lancet windows is a small trefoil window showing a descending dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit. Several other original stained glass windows appear to have been brought from Cambridge, including a mortuary window and a votive window described in 1851.

Above the foundation stone is a small cupboard used to contain the holy oil for the anointing of the sick. In the seventies, the tester and rails were removed and the altar was brought to the front of the sanctuary to accommodate the liturgical changes fostered by Vatican II.

Parish life

The parish runs religious education programs for children, teens, and adults. The parish participates in food drives and support for the homeless. The parish has a youth ministry for young parishioners.