St Osmund's Church is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church in

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

, Wiltshire, England. It was designed by

Augustus Pugin Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 1812 – 14 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival architecture ...

in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

and built in 1847–1848. It is on Exeter Street, opposite

Bishop Wordsworth's School Bishop Wordsworth's School is a Church of England boys' grammar school in Salisbury, Wiltshire for boys aged 11 to 18. The school has been amongst the top-performing schools in England, and in 2010 was the school with the best results in the Eng ...

, in the city centre. It is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

History

Background

After the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, the Catholic community in

celebrated

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

in a house on Cathedral Close owned by

Baron Arundell of Wardour Baron Arundell of Wardour, in the County of Wiltshire, was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1605 for Thomas Arundell, known as "Thomas the Valiant", son of Sir Matthew Arundell (died 1598) and grandson of Sir Thomas Arun ...

. In the early 1800s, the Arundells left the area. In 1811, a former inn, the World's End Inn on St Martin's Lane, was bought so that a small chapel could be built there.

Construction

In the 1840s, the chapel was too small to accommodate the increasing Catholic population of the city.

John Lambert John Lambert may refer to: *John Lambert (martyr) (died 1538), English Protestant martyred during the reign of Henry VIII *John Lambert (general) (1619–1684), Parliamentary general in the English Civil War *John Lambert of Creg Clare (''fl.'' c. ...

(1815–1892), later the first Catholic mayor of Salisbury, bought the site for the current church and presbytery, and commissioned

to design the church; Pugin had converted to Catholicism in 1835 and had previously lived in Salisbury for some years. On 8 April 1847, the foundation stone was laid by Bishop William Ullathorne, the Vicar Apostolic of the Western District. On 6 September 1848, the church was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

Description

The church is built of flint and stone, and originally had a chancel, nave and south aisle, and a south-west tower with a pyramidal roof. Enlargement of the church in 1894 was designed by

Edward Doran Webb Edward Doran Webb (1864–1931) was a British ecclesiastical architect. Based in Wiltshire, he worked on several churches including at Salisbury, Finchley, Swindon and Aldermaston. Webb also designed the Birmingham Oratory. He had strong connec ...

: a gabled north aisle was added and the south aisle altered. The altars were designed by Pugin. In 1850, stained glass designed by Pugin and made by Hardman & Co. was installed in the church. In the 1980s, the walls in the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

were repainted according to the original Pugin design. In 1982, stained glass was installed, showing the Martyrs of England and Wales.

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'' (195 ...

wrote in 1963 that the church is "Really of no architectural interest inside or out". Julian Orbach, revising Pevsner's volume in 2021, prefers to describe the church as "plain rather than inspiring". A church school was built in 1867 on the north part of the site, in matching flint and stone, to designs by Pugin's son E. W. Pugin. Now used as the church hall, it too is Grade II listed.

Parish and services

St Osmund's Church is one of two churches in the titular parish of St Osmund's, the other being St Gregory and the English Martyrs Church on St Gregory's Avenue. St Osmund's has four Sunday masses at 9:00, 11:00, and 18:00, with an

Ordinariate In the organisation of the Catholic Church and of the Anglican Communion an ordinariate is a pre- or pseudo-diocesan ecclesiastical structure, of geographical or personal nature, headed by an ordinary who is not necessarily a bishop. An ordinaria ...

Mass at 12:15pm. St Gregory's has a Saturday Vigil Mass at 18.00 and a Sunday Mass at 9:00am. There are also occasional masses at the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Downton.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Osmund's Church, Salisbury

Osmund Osmund (Latin ''Osmundus'') is a Germanic name composed of the word ''Os'' meaning "god" and ''mund'' meaning "protection." Osmund or Osmond may refer to: Pre-modern era :''Ordered chronologically'' * Osmund of Sussex (), a king of Sussex * Osm ...

Salisbury, Saint Osmund Salisbury, Saint Osmund Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in England Augustus Pugin buildings Gothic Revival church buildings in England Salisbury, Saint Osmund 1847 establishments in England Roman Catholic churches completed in 1848 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom