Holy Rood 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 ...

Parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in Watford, Hertfordshire. It was built from 1889 to 1890. It is situated on the western corner of Market Street and Exchange Road. It was designed by John Francis Bentley, who also designed

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral, officially the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood, is the largest Catholic Church in England and Wales, Roman Catholic church in England and Wales. The shrine is dedicated to the Blood of Jesus Ch ...

. It is a Grade I listed building.Holy Rood Church Hertfordshire
from British listed buildings, retrieved 23 December 2015 The church features in ''England's Thousand Best Churches'' by

Simon Jenkins Sir Simon David Jenkins FLSW (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992. Jenkins chaired the National Trust f ...

who described it as "a true town church".

, ''England's Thousand Best Churches'', Penguin, St Ives, 1999, pp. 332-333.

History

Foundation

In 1863, Fr George Bampfield came to Watford to say Catholic

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 rented accommodation in Carey Place. That year, he bought some land and had a hut built there, which became a chapel.Watford - Holy Rood
from

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

, retrieved 23 December 2015 In 1882, with the number of Catholics in the town increasing, a new, larger, site was needed. Fr Bampfield bought a place on Water Lane and had another chapel built there. The chapel was opened in 1883, and was used until the opening of Holy Rood Church.

Construction

On 29 August 1889, the foundation stone for Holy Rood Church was laid. Construction was largely paid for by the owner of the building firm Holland & Sons, Stephen Taprell Holland. He hired John Francis Bentley to design the church. 16 September 1890, the church was opened. The

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

s and south aisle were completed. More features would be added to the church. Work was done to build the tower, Holy Ghost chapel, north aisle and

baptistry In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptist ...

. On 7 May 1894, the foundation stone for the tower was laid by Cardinal Herbert Vaughan. On 5 July 1900, the completed church was consecrated by Bishop Robert Brindle. In 1966, repairs were made to the church. Some of the stone needed replacing and the interior needed cleaning. In 1990, further refurbishment occurred. The flint, stonework and roof were repaired and the painting inside the church was cleaned.

Parish

The church has six Sunday Masses: 6:00pm on Saturday evening, and 8:00am, 9:30am, 11:00am, and 5pm on Sunday, as well as a Polish Mass at 2:15pm.Mass times
from Archdiocese of Westminster, retrieved 19 November 2019

References

External links