The Roman Catholic Church of St Teresa of Lisieux in

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England, dates from 1958–1959. It is the only known church design of Eric Francis, a

Chepstow Chepstow ( cy, Cas-gwent) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the wester ...

-born architect who worked mainly in Monmouthshire and the South-West of England. St Teresa's is a functioning parish church within the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton The Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton is a Roman Catholic diocese centred at the Cathedral Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Clifton, England. The diocese covers the City and County of Bristol and the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire, ...

, and a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

History and design

Eric Francis (1887–1976) was born in

, Wales. Articled as an architect in 1909, he trained under

Guy Dawber Sir Edward Guy Dawber, RA ( King's Lynn, 3 August 1861 – London, 24 April 1938) was an English architect working in the late Arts and Crafts style, whose work is particularly associated with the Cotswolds. Biography Edward Guy Dawber ...

and

Detmar Blow Detmar Jellings Blow (24 November 1867 – 7 February 1939) was a British architect of the early 20th century, who designed principally in the arts and crafts style. His clients belonged chiefly to the British aristocracy, and later he became es ...

. He specialised in smaller

country houses An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

, including a number in Monmouthshire in collaboration with

Henry Avray Tipping Henry Avray Tipping (22 August 1855 – 16 November 1933) was a French-born British writer on country houses and gardens, a garden designer, and Architectural Editor of '' Country Life'' magazine for 17 years. Early life Tipping was born in the ...

. In the 1920s he moved to

West Monkton West Monkton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated north east of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish includes the hamlets of Monkton Heathfield, Bathpool, and Burlinch and the western parts o ...

, Somerset, undertaking a number of works in the area until his death in 1976. The Church of St Teresa of Lisieux was commissioned by the

in 1958. Established as an outreach church of St George's Roman Catholic Church, Taunton, it was planned to serve a new

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...

estate at Lyngford. Francis designed the church, the accompanying presbytery and a parish hall, but the last was not built. His contractors were Messrs Stansell & Son. The foundation stone was laid by

Joseph Rudderham Joseph Edward Rudderham (17 June 1899 – 24 February 1979) was an English prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Clifton from 1949 to 1974. Born in Norwich, Norfolk on 17 June 1899, one of seven children of William Rudderham ...

Bishop of Clifton The Bishop of Clifton is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton in the Province of Birmingham, England. The see is in the suburb of Clifton in the city of Bristol where the bishop's seat is located at the Cathedral Church of S ...

, in 1958 and the structure was complete by 1959. It remains a functioning parish church. Julian Orbach and

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

, in their ''Somerset: South and West'' volume of the ''

Buildings of England The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were publish ...

'' series, describe the church as a "striking" design, "between

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

and Swedish Modern". The construction material is red brick, with steep tiled roofs and a

flèche Flèche or Fleche may refer to: *Flèche (architecture), a type of church spire *Flèche (cycling), a team cycling competition *Flèche (fencing) The flèche is an aggressive offensive fencing technique used with foil and épée. Background ...

"like a radio mast". The church was designated a

in 2016.

Notes

References

Sources

* *

External links

Taunton Catholic Churches
* {{Diocese of Clifton Grade II listed churches in Somerset Roman Catholic churches completed in 1959 Roman Catholic churches in Somerset 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in England