87907

 

II  

Interim Protection  

 

 

Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception, including attached Presbytery  

 

Flintshire  

Flint  

Flint  

 

324165  

373013  

 

At the N end of Coleshill Street, near the junction with Earl Street and Aber Road.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Victorian  

Catholic church constructed mid-1880s in the Early English Gothic style using a distinctive Ruabon red brick to designs by Sinnott & Powell, prominent architects in NW England in the late C19. Up until the C18 Flint had been little more than a small village. Industrial activity including coal mining and lead processing took place on a small scale in the C18, and the pace of industrialisation increased in the C19. Catholics in the town during this period had to travel to Holywell for Mass. Land had been purchased for in 1841 by two locals - George Roskell, the first Mayor of Flint, and Edward Roberts - and Fr Lythgoe SJ, Rector of Holywell with the intention of building a church, school and presbytery, but it was some time before any progress was made. In the 1850s the old lead smelting works were converted to an alkali factory, and the town witnessed a rapid growth in its Catholic population. Many of the workers in the growing industries came from immigrant Irish families and there was a sufficiently large influx that a separate Irish speaking community was established in the town. Building work on the new church began in 1854, led by the Capuchin friars who had arrived at Pantasaph two years earlier. Development started with a school / chapel, which was registered for worship in 1855, and a presbytery completed in 1858. The school / chapel was extended in 1876 and then the church itself was built – its foundation stone was laid on 5 June 1884 by Dr Edmund Knight, Bishop of Shrewsbury. It was designed by James and Bernard Sinnott of Sinnott & Powell of Liverpool and the builders were Messers Reney of Connah’s Quay. It was opened on 30 August 1885 by Cardinal Manning. The cost of construction was £2,000. It had been designed with a tower and spire, which weren’t built. After demolition of Lord and Lady Denbigh’s Downing Hall the altar from the oratory there was given to Flint in 1890 by the Pantasaph friars and installed as a high altar; the original high altar was moved to the Lady Chapel. In the same year the Sacred Heart statue was installed and the current presbytery adjoining the church was constructed. The later was paid for by Mrs Elizabeth Harnett, daughter of George Roskell. Reordering of the sanctuary was carried out in 1936 with the installation of a new altar and sanctuary rail of Gwespyr limestone and relocation of the Downing Hall altar as the Lady Altar. There was further reordering in 1958 to the Lady Altar, Sacred Heart shrine and baptistry with new floors in the aisles, porch and sacristy. Further reordering of the sanctuary, including removal of some of the furnishings and replacement of those in the Lady Chapel, was carried out in the late C20.  

Church, austere Early English Gothic style. Ruabon red brick with sandstone dressings (now painted). Slate roof, steeply pitched. Nave with polygonal apsed sanctuary under the same roof, and lean-to north aisle with Lady Chapel to its E end. NW porch advanced from aisle, with deep set moulded archway. Lancet windows, paired to aisle, which has plate-traceried window to west. Stepped triple lancet window to west of nave, framed by stepped sill band and hood mould. Small quatrefoil windows to clerestory. Two-storeyed sacristy building to SE. Presbytery linked to church at SW: brick with slate roof, advanced west-facing gable, and paired gables facing south, all with decorative brickwork at eaves, gables and string course.  

Finished in Ruabon red brick (as outside), nave and aisle separated by arcade of Yorkshire stone drum columns with plain capitals. 3 round clerestory windows above. Choir gallery over sacristy . Barrel vaulted pitch pine nave roof, pitch pine also used for the floors, doors, pews and other original joinery. Oak boards to the sanctuary floor. Sanctuary apse with 3 lancet windows, central window with stained glass showing Our Lady Immaculate.  

Included, notwithstanding the loss and rearrangement of some original fittings and furnishings, for its special architectural interest as a distinctive church of the late C19 with a robust, simple character and a distinctive use of Ruabon brick both inside and out. It was designed by a prominent firm of late C19 architects, responsible for a range of churches in the Archdiocese of Liverpool and Salford, several of which are listed. The design of the church reflects the historic interest of the town of Flint, its industry, and its Catholic population. It also has historic interest for its links with the with the monastic communities at Pantasaph and Holywell. This structure has been afforded Interim Protection under the Planning (Listed Building and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. It is an offence to damage this structure and you may be prosecuted. To find out more about Interim Protection, please visit the statutory notices page on the Cadw website. For further information about this structure, or to report any damage please contact Cadw.