The Catholic church in Droitwich - geograph

The Church of the Sacred Heart and St Catherine of Alexandria - geograph

The Church of the Sacred Heart and St Catherine of Alexandria is a Catholic church situated in

Droitwich Spa Droitwich Spa (often abbreviated to Droitwich ) is an historic spa town in the Wychavon district in northern Worcestershire, England, on the River Salwarpe. It is located approximately south-west of Birmingham and north-east of Worcester. T ...

, Worcestershire,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, noted for its remarkable

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

s. Walter Loveridge Hodgkinson was a main benefactor of the church. The architect was Frank Barry Peacock. The building was

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

at Grade II* on 11 December 2013.

The Mosaics

The mosaics at the Sacred Heart were designed by

Gabriel Pippet Gabriel Pippet (1880 in Solihull – 1962) was an English artist. As well as being was an artist, he was known as an illustrator and a wood carver. Pippet's work was influenced by Pre-Raphaelites, the Arts and Crafts Movement, and medieval manu ...

(1880–1962) and carried out by

Maurice Josey Maurice Richard Josey (30 October 1870 — 6 May 1938) was an English mosaic artist. Life and work Josey was born at 1 Langton Cottages, Melbourne Square, Kennington, London in 1870, son of the renowned mezzotint engraver Richard Josey and El ...

, assisted by Fred Oates. They were begun in 1921 and took 12 years to complete. Eight and a half tons of quarter-inch glass was imported from Venice for the purpose. The influence of the mosaics of

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the c ...

is very apparent. Indeed, Pippet travelled to Ravenna and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

to study the mosaics before completing the designs.

References

External links

Sacred Heart Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sacred Heart and Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Church of the Church of the Sacred Heart and Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Church of the Sacred Heart and Saint Catherine of Alexandria Roman Catholic churches in Worcestershire