St Mary's Catholic Church
A mid-Victorian brick church by E.W Pugin.
A mission, served from Stourbridge, was established here in 1854. The present church was designed by Edward Welby Pugin, the foundation stone being laid on 12 June 1872, with the opening (at which Bishop Ullathorne preached) on 15 October the following year. Even at the opening of the church there were reports that the foundations were cracking, on account of nearby mining operations. The mission was poor, there were various diocesan and national appeals for support in the 1880s.
The church is built of red brick with Bath stone dressings. The style derives from Early English work of the thirteenth century. The building consists of a nave, north aisle, short sanctuary, north Lady Chapel and a sacristy. A tower and/or spire was intended for the southwest corner but never completed. The west end has a triplet of lancet windows and a central doorway. Along the south side are four tall two-light windows with sexfoils in the heads: in the aisle there are three two-light windows. At the east end is a large circular window containing six sexfoiled openings. The west doorway leads into a narthex under the broad west gallery. From here the nave has four bays with an arcade of polished Cornish granite columns and moulded arches with very individual capitals. Over the nave and sanctuary are the original archbraced roofs. At the entrance to the sanctuary there is a very tall, attenuated arch carried on polished Shap granite responds. The walls are plastered and are painted a light cream colour. The carvings of the capitals and on the font unfortunately appear to have been blast-cleaned. The high altar has been removed, but its wooden reredos survives, an ornate piece in two tiers with the Evangelists painted in the upper register. Otherwise, the church now retains few furnishings of note. Stained glass is confined to the east window (figures of angels) and the former Lady Chapel (floral motifs).
Thanks to funding through the Brierley Hill High Street Heritage Action Zone in 2023 the historic main front entrance doors were repaired and redecorated.
St Mary's Church was built in 1873 having been designed by E W Pugin, son of the famous Augustus Pugin, and built entirely from donations by local Catholic families. There had been a Mission in the town since 1854 served by the Priest from Our Lady and All Saints, Stourbridge. Mass was said in a room at the back of the shops which had originally been a pub called The Mouth of the Nile although no-one knows the origins of this name!
The shops still remain and are Grade 2 listed, but the rear of the building was demolished in 1995 and a new purpose-built Parish Centre replaced with what had been known as the guild room. The Church was consecrated by Right Reverend Joseph Cleary, Bishop of Cresmia and Auxilliary of Birmingham on 4th March 1983. Major alterations took place in the late 1960s when the Sacred Heart Altar was removed from the side aisle and central heating installed. Further rennovations took place in 1995 which involved major repairs, replastering and roofing works.
In 1889 St Mary's school was built at the rear of the Church but this burnt down in the early 1960s and a new school was built, and opened, in nearby Mill Street in 1964. The original Presbytery was a rambling farmhouse on the same site but this was replaced in the early 1930s with the present building which is now the convent. This is now home to the Daughters of Divine Love, since 2013.
