OS grid reference SU1547584426 Country United Kingdom Website HolyRoodSwindon.co.uk Opened 1905 Architect Edward Doran Webb | Location Swindon Denomination Roman Catholic Dedication Feast of the Cross Phone +44 1793 522062 | |
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Address 2 Groundwell Rd, Swindon SN1 2LU, UK Architectural style Gothic Revival architecture Similar Holyrood Church, Holy Rood Church - Barnsley, Holy Rood Church - Watford, Lawns Park, St Mark's Church - Swindon | ||
Holy Rood Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It was founded in 1851 as a chapel and was rebuilt as a church in 1905. It is situated on the corner of Groundwell Road and London Road in the centre of the town. It was designed by Edward Doran Webb as a Gothic Revival church and was the first Roman Catholic church built in and around the town since the Reformation.
Contents
Foundation
In 1848, two years before the Restoration of the English hierarchy, a Roman Catholic mission was started in Swindon. A priest would come from St Thomas of Canterbury Church in Fairford to say Mass once a month in the town.
In 1851, a chapel was built in the town between Regent Street and Sanford Street. From 1857, the chapel had its own resident priest. By 1882, the chapel was seen to be too small to accommodate the increasing local Catholic congregation so they bought a disused Unitarian church in Regent Circus in the town. The church was built by the Unitarians in the 1860s, on the site of an old chapel made of iron. The church was completed in 1875 and cost £2,500. It was a Gothic Revival church. In 1887, a vestry was added to the church.
Construction
In the 1900s, with the local Catholic population increasing, plans were made to build a new, larger church. The architect Edward Doran Webb was commissioned to design the church. He was also the architect of the Birmingham Oratory. The new church, on Groundwell Road, was also in the Gothic Revival style. In 1905, the church was opened.
From 1926, efforts were made by the parish priest, Canon J. J. Noonan, to raise between £6,000 and £7,000, to pay the debt from the construction of the church. Six years later, the debt was paid off. On 1 September 1932, the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Clifton, William Lee.
Parish
The church is next to Holy Rood Catholic Primary School.
The church has five Sunday Masses: 6:15pm on Saturday and 8:00am, 9:30am, 11:00am and 5:30pm on Sunday.