Building record 7291 - St. Clare's Roman Catholic Church

<1> English Heritage/DCMS, Various, Notification of decision not to include on the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, Ellis, V 25/09/2013 (Written Communication). SCH5393.

St Clare's is a post-war church built in 1958-60 and was designed by the ecclesiastical architects' practice of Reynolds and Scott of Manchester. It was built with practical help from the congregation. St Clare's is built in a modern Gothic style to a conventional longitudinal plan using buff brick and concrete as the main materials. The west elevation, which faces the housing estate it serves, has pleasing massing with a tower to one side and a small polygonal baptistery on the other, but close-up the projecting concrete framing of the windows whilst bold is rather clunky, and the buff brick is nondescript. The interior has a concrete groined vault ceiling which gives an encompassing and welcoming disposition, though is unexceptional in appearance. The layout follows a traditional liturgical layout which is entirely lacking innovation or distinctiveness. The fixtures and fittings are well made but unremarkable for their date.