Sacred Heart Church, Blackpool

53°49′10″N 3°03′13″W / 53.8195°N 3.0537°W / 53.8195; -3.0537OS grid referenceSD 3072636433LocationBlackpool, LancashireCountryEnglandDenominationRoman CatholicArchitectureFunctional statusActiveHeritage designationGrade II*Designated20 October 1983Architect(s)E. W. PuginStyleEnglish GothicCompleted1857AdministrationProvinceLiverpoolDioceseLancaster

Sacred Heart Church is a Roman Catholic church in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, on Talbot Road close to the town centre. It was the first Roman Catholic church built in Blackpool and has been designated a Grade II* listed building by English Heritage.

History

Sacred Heart Church was founded by the Jesuits as the town's first Roman Catholic church.^[1][2] It was built in 1857 to a design by Edward Welby Pugin.^[3] The church was enlarged, to the east, in 1894, to a design by Pugin & Pugin.^[2] It was designated as a Grade II* listed building by English Heritage on 20 October 1983.^[4][3] The Grade II* listing is for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest".^[5] Since 2004, it has been served by priests from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lancaster. The parish priest is Canon Robert Dewhurst.^[6]

Architecture

The church is constructed of stone, with slate roofs, in the English Gothic style.^[3] Its plan consists of a four-bay nave with an octagonal crossing, around which the aisles and transepts lie.^[2][3] The lead roof over the crossing is pyramidal and has an octagonal wooden lantern with side tracery. The lantern itself has a pyramidal roof of copper.^[2][3] The church tower is to the west; it has four stages with angled buttresses and corner pinnacles, and buttressed aisles with clerestories.^[2][3] There are three-light windows in the aisles and four-light windows in the nave transepts. Stained glass in the nave windows was designed by Frances Barnett of Leith.^[2] The windows of the 1894 extension are larger than elsewhere and have reticulated tracery. The large east window has stained glass, possibly by William Wailes.^[2]

The nave arcades are supported by clustered marble piers with foliated tops and moulded lancet arches.^[2][3] There is a two-bay gallery to the west.^[2] The chancel is flanked by two lady chapels. The church fittings include a white marble octagonal pulpit that is carved and sits on red and black columns.^[3]

There is a Neo-Georgian presbytery to the east of the building that was built c. 1950, and a former school to the west that dates from 1898.^[2] The church has no graveyard.^[7]

Interior

• 
  Nave
• 
  Altar

See also

• Listed buildings in Blackpool

References

Bibliography

External links

• Official website