A good neo-Tudor 20th century church with an unusually fine and tall wooden screen in the Renaissance style dividing nave from chancel. The building, and its fitments, were designed by William Randoll Blacking (1889 – 1958) and consecrated in 1938.
Outside it has an unfussy brick exterior with broad tower off centre that looks purple in certain lights. The building sits in the pleasing housing estate of Spinney Hill built at the same time in East Northampton. Internally it is very light and even the hammer beam ceiling is white painted.
The chancel is approached beneath the screen which is surmounted by the Royal Arms of George VI (a late example of this type of decoration) and above on a broken pediment a Calvary scene.
In the south east chapel there is a painting of the Last Supper by a French artist, 1955 and in the opposite north chapel, devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary there are good original fittings. These, like the font with its painted cover, were supplied by Robert Bridgeman and Sons. The firm was founded in 1871 in Lichfield and supplied ecclesiastical fittings and sculpture including work at the John Rylands Library, Manchester, and both of Birmingham’s cathedrals. Here they also made the statue of St Alban which is placed in a niche above the main door.
Please refer to the Glossary for any terms in the text that you are unfamiliar with.
