NEW CHURCH OF THE ENGLISH MARTYRS, TOWER HILL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 184, 6 October 1876, Page 15

NEW CHURCH OF THE ENGLISH MARTYRS, TOWER HILL.

It was a happy thought to dedicate the first church erected close to the spot crimsoned by the first blood shed for the faith under the tyrannical Henry to the memory of the English martyrs, and a no less happy coincidence to chose for its solemn dedication, the feast of St. Alban, the proto-martyr of Britain, and the anniversary of the martyrdom of the venerable Cardinal Fisher, the Bishop of Rochester, who laid his head on the block rather than yield one iota of supremacy he owed to the Vicar of Christ. Three hundred and fifty-one years have passed since that period, and at last a noble church has risen up in the metropolis to proclaim and perpetuate the faith of our 260 glorious English martyrs. The church is situated in Great Prescot-street, and forms a parrallelogram 104 by 60. It is erected in the early decorated or (what the lamented architect used to call) the " Victorian style." The front contains a noble -window with rose in the top, with double doorways underneath, and flanked by a cross-surmounted turret 106 feet high. The interior has a grand and imposing appearance from its loftiness (47 feet) and the vaulted ceiling, is a great improvement upon the open wooden roof. The site being shallow, it was necessary to erect a triforium or gallery which rounds the church as far as the transepts. This feature has been so architec- ) turally treated that it is fax from being an eyesore, as most galleries are, and accommodation for some hundreds more worshippers is thus obtained. For the same reason, the chancel is rather shallow, but has a magnificent, lofty, seven-light window, with rose window above ; the altar and fittings are temporary. On each side of the chancel are niches with figures of our Blessed Lady and St. Joseph. The chapel on the epistle side is dedicated to the Holy Ghost, and has a marvellously beautiful and delicately carved reredos. The chapel of the Blessed Virgin on the Gospel side still wants its fittings. Beyond (this, over the sacristies, is the organ gallery. Though built in between houses the church is well lit by ample clerestory windows. The edifice is built of brick faced with yellow malms and box-ground stone dressing. The arcades are of Bath stone, with columns of polished Bessbrook granite, and the interior fittings are of pitch-pine polished.