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
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-baynave 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
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-
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]
^ abFarrer, William; Brownbill, J., eds. (1912), "Townships: Layton with Warbreck", A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7, pp. 247–251, retrieved 14 April 2011
Nave
Altar
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