Holy Rood Church is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in Watford, Hertfordshire. It was built from 1889 to 1890. It is situated on the western corner of Market Street and Exchange Road. It was designed by

John Francis Bentley John Francis Bentley (30 January 1839 – 2 March 1902) was an English ecclesiastical architect whose most famous work is the Westminster Cathedral in London, England, built in a style heavily influenced by Byzantine architecture. Life Bentle ...

, who also designed

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the City o ...

. It is a Grade I listed building.Holy Rood Church Hertfordshire
from British listed buildings, retrieved 23 December 2015 The church features in ''England's Thousand Best Churches'' by Simon Jenkins who described it as "a true town church". Simon Jenkins, ''England's Thousand Best Churches'', Penguin, St Ives, 1999, pp. 332-333.

History

Foundation

From 1863, a Fr George Bampfield came to Watford to say Catholic

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

in rented accommodation in Carey Place. That year, he bought some land and had a hut built there, which became a chapel.Watford - Holy Rood
from

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

, retrieved 23 December 2015 In 1882, with the number of Catholics in the town increasing, a new, larger, site was needed. Fr Bampfield bought a place on Water Lane and had another chapel built there. The chapel was opened in 1883, and was used until the opening of Holy Rood Church.

Construction

On 29 August 1889, the foundation stone for Holy Rood Church was laid. Construction was largely paid for by the owner of the building firm Holland & Sons, Stephen Taprell Holland. He hired

to design the church. 16 September 1890, the church was opened. The

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

s and south aisle were completed. More features would be added to the church. Work was done to build the tower, Holy Ghost chapel, north aisle and baptistry. On 7 May 1894, the foundation stone for the tower was laid by Cardinal Herbert Vaughan. On 5 July 1900, the completed church was consecrated by Bishop Robert Brindle. In 1966, repairs were made to the church. Some of the stone needed replacing and the interior needed cleaning. In 1990, further refurbishment occurred. The flint, stonework and roof were repaired and the painting inside the church was cleaned.

Parish

The church has six Sunday Masses: 6:00pm on Saturday evening, and 8:00am, 9:30am, 11:00am, and 5pm on Sunday, as well as a Polish Mass at 2:15pm.Mass times
from

Archdiocese of Westminster The Catholic Diocese of Westminster is an archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in England. The diocese consists of most of London north of the River Thames and west of the River Lea, the borough of Spelthorne (in Surrey), and th ...

, retrieved 19 November 2019

References

External links