OS grid reference SD 3072636433 Country England Functional status Active Address Blackpool FY1 1LB, UK Phone +44 1253 620964 | Location Blackpool, Lancashire Denomination Roman Catholic Heritage designation Grade II* Opened 1857 Architect E. W. Pugin | |
 | ||
Architectural style English Gothic architecture Diocese Roman Catholic Diocese of Lancaster Similar Holy Trinity Church - Blackpool, St Mary's Church - Fleetwood, Church of St John the Evangelis, St Peter's Church - Preston, St Michael's Church - B Profiles | ||
The Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, or Sacred Heart Church, is a Roman Catholic church in the seaside resort of Blackpool, Lancashire, England. Located on Talbot Road close to the town centre, it was the first Roman Catholic church built in Blackpool. It has been designated a Grade II* listed building by English Heritage.
Contents
History
Sacred Heart Church was founded by the Jesuits as the town's first Roman Catholic church. It was built in 1857 to a design by Edward Welby Pugin. The church was enlarged, to the east, in 1894, to a design by Pugin & Pugin. It was designated as a Grade II* listed building by English Heritage on 20 October 1983. The Grade II* listing is for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest". Sacred Heart is an active church in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lancaster. The parish priest is Canon Robert Dewhurst.
Architecture
The church is constructed of stone, with slate roofs, in the English Gothic style. Its plan consists of a four-bay nave with an octagonal crossing, around which the aisles and transepts lie. 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. The church tower is to the west; it has four stages with angled buttresses and corner pinnacles, and buttressed aisles with clerestories. 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. 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.
The nave arcades are supported by clustered marble piers with foliated tops and moulded lancet arches. There is a two-bay gallery to the west. 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.
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. The church has no graveyard.