Survey Data
Reg No
31805020
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social, Technical
Previous Name
Saint Mary's Catholic Cathedral
Original Use
Cathedral
In Use As
Cathedral
Date
1850 - 1860
Coordinates
162065, 295056
Date Recorded
19/08/2003
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached gable-fronted cathedral, built 1855. Comprising eight-bay nave with clerestory and lean-to side aisles, four-stage tower with spire to west, square-ended chancel to east with sacristy and mortuary chapel to north and south. Addition of spire, new sacristy and bells to tower in 1912. Pitched slate roofs with stone coping, stone and cast-iron finials and cast-iron ridge cresting. Snecked rock-faced sandstone walls with buttresses and tooled limestone dressings. Paired lancet windows to side aisles. Traceried window to west. Paired triple lancet lights with trefoil and quatrefoil overlights to eastern pointed-arched window. Lancet windows to sacristy and mortuary chapel. Tooled limestone surrounds, hood mouldings and stained glass throughout. Pointed-arched entrance with timber battened double doors and carved tympanum. Tooled surround with applied columns. Bellcote to south transept roof. Statue niches to tower. Five-bay two-storey presbytery south of cathedral with extensions to south. Cathedral set within its own grounds bounded by low stone wall.
Appraisal
Designed by Hatfield and Goldie with additional work in 1912 by W.H. Byrne, this monumental cathedral is of apparent architectural design. The rock-faced masonry and carved limestone dressings enhance its architectural form and are clearly the work of skilled craftsmen. Richly embellished, this cathedral is an important feature within the streetscape.