Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 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 ...

Wellingborough Wellingborough ( ) is a market town in the North Northamptonshire, Unitary Authority area, England, from London and from Northampton, north of the River Nene. Originally named "Wendelingburgh" (the stronghold of Wændel's people), the Anglo ...

, Northamptonshire, England. It was built from 1884 to 1886 by Samuel Joseph Nicholl 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 ...

. It is located on Raneleigh Road, between Knox Road and Palk Road to the east of the town 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 ...

.Church of Our Lady and the Sacred Heart

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 Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

, retrieved 14 May 2022

History

Foundation

In 1869, a

mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

was founded in Wellingborough. It was supported by the Arkwright family from Knuston Hall, one of whom was the

High Sheriff of Northamptonshire This is a list of the High Sheriffs of Northamptonshire. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the respon ...

, Herbert Robert Arkwright.

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 ...

was celebrated in

in rented properties.

Wellingborough - Our Lady and the Sacred Heart
''Taking Stock'', retrieved 14 May 2022

Construction

Between 1873 and 1882, the land for the current church was bought in stages. In 1884, Samuel Joseph Nicholl was commissioned to design the church. He was from London and also designed St Charles Borromeo Church, Westminster and taught

Alexander Scoles Alexander Joseph Cory Scoles (30 November 1844 – 29 December 1920) was an architect and Roman Catholic priest.Directory of British Architects, 1834–1914: Vol. 2 (L-Z)' ed. Brodie, Antonia (London, 2001), p. 552 He designed many lancet styl ...

. On 2 September 1886 the church was opened. The total cost of the church was £5,281. From 1893 to 1894, the presbytery was built and came to a total cost of £1,558.

Parish

The church is in the same parish as St Edmund Campion Church in Wellingborough. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church has three Sunday Masses at 6:00pm on Saturday, 9:00am on Sunday and a Polish Mass at 12:30pm on Sunday. St Edmund's Church has two Sunday Masses at 10:30am and 5:30pm.

References

External links