Roman Catholic Parish of Stevenage

The earliest modern Catholic church in Stevenage, built in 1914, enlarged in 1937 and significantly remodelled in 1984. The building has a cosy and welcoming interior, and is fit for purpose. The cumulative effect of change is of historic interest, but architecturally the claims of the building are modest.

A Catholic mission chapel was opened in Albert Street, Stevenage in 1911. This modest building sufficed until 1913, when a strip of land was bought between Basil’s Road and Grove Road. Dr Adrian Fortescue laid the foundation stone for a new church designed by E. H. Major of London on 1 October 1913; the builders were Messrs Austin & Sons and Mr W. J. Spratt of Stevenage. The building was a curious sub-Romanesque red brick design, self-effacingly unchurchlike. It was formally opened on 25 January 1914. The church was served from Hitchin and then from Baldock until the first resident priest arrived in 1919. A presbytery was built in 1925-26. In 1937 the church was extended, with a larger and higher sanctuary.  

After the Second World War, Stevenage was designated a new town, work on which started in 1947. The church of the Transfiguration was to become one of five Catholic churches, the other four being St Joseph, Bedwell (qv), St Hilda, Shephall (qv), All Saints, The Oval, and Christ the King, Symonds Green (the last two are shared churches, not included in this review).

In 1984 the church was radically reordered by Williams & Winkley, with an extension on the Grove Road frontage and a new top-lit sanctuary placed on the long axis on the south side. The church was now capable of seating 185 (including seating in an overspill space formed from the 1935 sanctuary).