St John Fisher, Kearsley

Sources

Catholic Bishops' Conference, Taking Stock: building history and architectural survey. https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/kearsley-st-john-fisher/ History and architecture reviewed. Current services, visitor access and map position have not been rechecked. The survey listing status is not a fresh statutory-list search.

History & description

St John Fisher in Kearsley brings together a parish church and a separate Schoenstatt shrine. The church and presbytery were built in 1967-1968 to designs by Desmond Williams and Associates. The church was intended to double as a hall, serving an anticipated housing development which did not proceed as originally planned.

Church and shrine
The brick church has shallow roofs and an adaptable central worship space. The much smaller shrine opened on 1 October 2000 and reproduces the form of the original Schoenstatt Marian shrine in Germany. It belongs to a wider retreat and pastoral setting.

Understanding the photographs
The image currently used for this entry depicts the shrine in the grounds, rather than the main parish church. Keeping these two buildings distinct explains why the photograph looks older and smaller than the date and design of the 1960s church would suggest.

Sources: Church / directory reference; Location / parish reference.

Location note: the map pin is the approximate centre of postcode BL4 8QQ, not a surveyed position on the church. Please use the street address to find the building.

Photograph: Schoenstatt Shrine in the grounds of St John Fisher RC Church (the shrine, not the main parish church). Photo by Kevin Waterhouse, via Geograph, CC BY-SA 2.0. Displayed at reduced size; no other alterations.