St Catherine of Siena is an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church in the

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

district of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

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 b ...

History of the parish

Historically, Richmond was a sparsely populated area forming the western end of the Handsworth parish. The Woodthorpe estate was constructed in the area from the 1930s, and in 1935, a

chapel-of-ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ease is deliberately bu ...

was constructed to serve its population.St Catherine of Siena,
History
It was a temporary structure of corrugated

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

at the junction of Richmond Road and Hastilar Road.David Walker,
English Religious Architecture of the Fifties
' In 1949, a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

was created for it, but the local population had increased to more than 10,000 people, and the church was considered insufficient and in need of replacement.

Frederick Etchells Frederick Etchells (14 September 1886 – 16 August 1973) was an English artist and architect. Biography Etchells was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. His early education was at the London School of Kensington, now known as The Royal College ...

was commissioned to design a new church, to seat 500 people, but although he produced drawings, there was initially no money available to construct the building.

Design

St Phillip's Church in

Attercliffe Attercliffe is an industrial suburb of northeast Sheffield, England on the south bank of the River Don. The suburb falls in the Darnall ward of Sheffield City Council. History The name Attercliffe can be traced back as far as an entry in t ...

was destroyed by bombing during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and although War Damage compensation was available, population decline in that area led the

Diocese of Sheffield The Diocese of Sheffield is an administrative division of the Church of England, part of the Province of York. The Diocese of Sheffield was created under George V on 23 January 1914, by the division from the Diocese of York (along with that pa ...

to request that the money be transferred to the Woodthorpe parish. This was agreed, and Etchells was asked to update his previous design. However, Etchells had largely retired, and rejected the job. Instead,

Basil Spence Sir Basil Urwin Spence, (13 August 1907 – 19 November 1976) was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Moderni ...

was given the commission. Initially, he produced a design similar to his work at St Hugh, Leicester, but in 1957 he completely altered the designs, working with Anthony Blee who produced drawings of the elevations. This new design was for a brick church, with an attached hall, bell tower attached by a glazed passage, and a detached

vicarage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically own ...

. Its appearance, largely plain, with narrow windows, was inspired by Eliel and

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer noted for his wide-ranging array of designs for buildings and monuments. Saarinen is best known for designing the General Motors ...

's Christ Evangelical Church in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Construction and opening

Construction started on the project, on the site of the earlier church. It was already well underway by April 1959, when its foundation stone was dedicated by the

Bishop of Sheffield The Bishop of Sheffield is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Sheffield in the Province of York. A similar title was first created as a suffragan see in the Diocese of York in 1901. John Quirk, the only Bishop suffragan of Shef ...

and the

Earl of Scarborough Earl of Scarbrough is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1690 for Richard Lumley, 2nd Viscount Lumley. He is best remembered as one of the Immortal Seven who invited William of Orange to invade England and depose his father- ...

Ralph Beyer Ralph Alexander Beyer (6 April 1921 – 13 February 2008) was a German letter-cutter, sculptor and teacher. He was most noted for his work on Basil Spence's new Coventry Cathedral where Beyer carved ''Tablets of the Words''.

carved the name of the church by the doorway shortly before it opened on 5 December 1959. Once opened, the parish was renamed Richmond, after the larger suburb which it included. Congregations remained much smaller than expected, as many local residents were either

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

, and averaged only thirty worshippers for many years. Inside the church, the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

is of black metal with a timber top, and the

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

is made of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

with

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

inclusions.

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

,
Church of St Catherine of Siena
Work on furnishings and decorations continued over the next few years; an organ was installed, and a sculpture by Ronald Pope was added to the bell tower in 1966.

Recent history

Congregations finally began growing in the late 1980s, as the population of the local area saw generational change. A major restoration was completed in 1997, following which, the church was listed at Grade II. The church maintains what it describes as a Catholic style of worship. It does not support the ordination of women and, as such, has taken the option of submitting to the

Provincial episcopal visitor A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction, "are unable to receive the ministry of ...

, the

Bishop of Beverley The Bishop of Beverley is a Church of England suffragan bishop. The title takes its name after the town of Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The suffragan bishop was originally to assist the Archbishop of York in overseeing th ...

.St Catherine of Siena,
About us

References

{{Churches in Sheffield Basil Spence buildings Churches completed in 1959 Churches in Sheffield

Grade II listed churches in South Yorkshire Grade II listed buildings in Sheffield