The church was built between about 1840 and 1842, and was designed by
A. W. N. Pugin. Of this church, only the west steeple has survived. The body of the church was completely rebuilt in 1951–57, and was designed by Adrian Gilbert Scott.[3]
Architecture
Exterior
The steeple is built in red
hipped roof.[2] Other than the west front, the body of the church is in brick, with four-light Perpendicular windows along the sides of the aisles.[3]
Interior
Inside the church the walls are in stone up to head height, and in painted concrete above. The
South of the church is a group of buildings that evoke "Pugin's ideal of a medieval Christian community".[3]
Presbytery
This was built in 1857 and designed by E. W. Pugin.[3] It stands to the south of the church, and is built in stone with a slate roof. The presbytery has two storeys, and a front of four bays. The end bays project forward, the first bay under a gable, the fourth bay with a bay window under a hipped roof. Above the entrance in the third bay is a niche containing a statue of Saint Oswald. The presbytery is listed at Grade II.[5]
Schools and parish hall
To the southwest of the church are two former schools with gables facing St Oswald's Street. That nearer the church is a simple building, in one storey, and with plain
Methodist chapel of 1845. It is a simple rectangular stuccoed brick building with round-headed windows, which has been converted for use as the parish hall.[3]
Convent of Mercy
This is a sandstone group of buildings with slate roofs attached to the rear of the smaller school, which was almost certainly designed by A. W. N. Pugin. It consists of ranges of buildings on the north and east sides of a courtyard in one and two storeys. The convent building itself is small, containing only eight cells, with a chapel on the first floor. The convent complex is a Grade II listed building.[3][7]