St Mary'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 Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

in the city of

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

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. 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, Hi ...

, it stands on Bridge Gate overlooking St Alkmund's Way. The church was designed by architect A. W. N. Pugin and according to

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 ...

, it is one of Pugin's "few complete works".

History

The church 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 1837 to replace a small Gothic building in nearby Chapel Street. It was Pugin's first expression of his

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, 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 ...

style. He originally planned for the tower to have a spire, but budget restrictions prevented this from being implemented. His final design was presented on 17 March 1838, and construction began that same year, with the foundation stone being laid in July 1838.A Walk Round Guide to the Catholic Church of St Mary, Derby. ''St Mary's Rectory, Bridge Gate'' Building was completed by 9 October 1839, when the dedication service took place with Cardinal

Nicholas Wiseman Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman (3 August 1802 – 15 February 1865) was an English Roman Catholic prelate who served as the first Archbishop of Westminster upon the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales in 1 ...

preaching. The cost of construction had been £1,400. The wood

sedilia In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, typically made of stone, located on the liturgical south side of the altar—often within the chancel—intended for use by the officiating priest, deacon, an ...

in the sanctuary was donated to the church by Pugin. Eight years later, the Anglican St Alkmund's Church was re-built on a site directly opposite St Mary's. The position of the larger St Alkmund's was such that the view of St Mary's from King Street was obscured. In 1850, a chapel was added dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes. Later a floodlit statue of Mary was placed on the tower, forming a landmark, although it has been removed. The church was partially restored in 1927 when it was discovered that damp had taken hold on much of the plasterwork. St Mary's was enlarged slightly in 1932 with the building of the Lady Chapel and several pieces of stonework were added to both the interior and the exterior of the building. The late 1960s brought sweeping changes to the Derby landscape. St Alkmund's Church and its churchyard were demolished in order to make way for the inner ring road, exposing St Mary's to full view for the first time in 120 years. A new set of bells was added during a facelift which took place between April 1988 and September 1989, during which the church was closed. A second restoration was undertaken in the late 1990s. This included re-roofing of the Lady Chapel and extensive cleaning of the interior and exterior of the church. In 2007 the Saint Alkmund's Way Footbridge that allows pedestrians to cross the inner ring road, the A601 (St Alkmund's Way) was replaced with a wider design at a cost of £1.3m.

Interior

File:St Marys Church Derby.jpg, The Nave File:St Marys Church Lady Chapel.jpg, The Chapel

References

External links

*
St Mary's Parish official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Derby, Saint Mary Churches completed in 1839 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom

Saint Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

Grade II* listed churches in Derbyshire Roman Catholic churches in Derbyshire Roman Catholic Diocese of Nottingham Grade II* listed Roman Catholic churches in England Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Derbyshire

History

Interior

See also

References

External links