HOLY ROOD CHURCH
HOLY ROOD CHURCH, MARKET STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1101104
- Date first listed:
- 12-Sep-1980
- List Entry Name:
- HOLY ROOD CHURCH
- Statutory Address:
- HOLY ROOD CHURCH, MARKET STREET
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2005-01-02
- Reference:
- IOE01/13251/30
- Rights:
- © Mr Anthony Sidell. Source: Historic England Archive
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Find PhotosOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1101104
- Date first listed:
- 12-Sep-1980
- List Entry Name:
- HOLY ROOD CHURCH
- Statutory Address 1:
- HOLY ROOD CHURCH, MARKET STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- HOLY ROOD CHURCH, MARKET STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Hertfordshire
- District:
- Watford (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 10877 96327
Details
TQ 1096 SE 9/44
5259
MARKET STREET,
Holy Rood Church
12.9.80
I
Roman Catholic. 1889-1900 by J F Bentley. Outstanding late Gothic revival church.
Flint and stone Gothic of Herts. Perpendicular type. Five bay nave with 2 bay width
transepts, clerestory, low-pitch roofed aisles, 3 bay chancel with upper level
ambulatory 2 bay north-east and south-east chapels with low vestries extending out
to line of east end. South-west porch. Clasped between transepts and chancel,
2 octagonal stair turrets with copper caps. North-west tower built 1894-1900, flint
below, top band of flint and stone chequer work, bell-stage banded flint and stone
with 2 light openings. Panelled battlements and lead spirelet over corner stair
turret. Stone banding is also used in all the gables and on the 2 octagonal turrets.
Large Perpendicular style transept, east and west windows.
Within, elaborate and complete set of fittings by Bentley unequalled elsewhere in
his work, notably in chancel and east chapels, west baptistery and north aisle chantry
chapel to S T Holland, the donor. Painted decoration to roofs and walls, opus sectile
(tile) panels, rich and elaborate marble and stone altar and reredos with tabernacle
(1899) and altar furniture by Bentley. Rood beam across chancel arch, oak sedilia,
painted stone piscina and aumbry. Tile and marble floor. Exceptional metalwork,
especially the grilles, screens and altar-rails, also electric light fittings (1899).
Pulpit (1893), heptagonal marble font with oak cover. Rich fittings especially to
the Holland chantry. Two canopied shrines with alabaster statues, 2 Virgin and
Sacred Heart. Stained glass by Bentley an east window (1899). East chapels, transepts,
(1894), 2 south aisle windows and 2 in chantry. Later fittings of note include
west window 1904 Burlison and Grylls and Stations of the Cross circa 1910 by
N H J Westlake.
W del'Hopital: Westminster Cathedral and its architect 1919 pp. 419-33.
Listing NGR: TQ1087796327
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 158202
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Bennett, R, Wright, J E, Church of the Holy Rood, Watford: A History and Description of the Church, (1989)
De L'Hopital, W, Westminster Cathedral and its Architect, (1916), 419-433
Harbron, D, 'Architects' Journal' in Centenary: John Francis Bentley, (26 January 1939), 160
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 21-Apr-2025 at 11:25:43.
Download a full scale map (PDF)© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2025. OS AC0000815036. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900.© British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2025. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006.
End of official list entry
