St George's Roman Catholic Church, Taunton
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox church
| name = Church of St George
| image = St George's RC Church, Taunton.jpg
| imagesize = 125
| imagelink =
| imagealt = St George's Church tower
| caption = The church tower
| pushpin map = Somerset
| pushpin label position =
| pushpin map alt = Location in Somerset
| pushpin mapsize =
| relief =
| map caption = Location in Somerset
| coordinates = {{coord|51.013|-3.098|display=inline,title}}
| location = Taunton, Somerset
| country = United Kingdom
| denomination = Catholic
| website = {{URL|tauntonvalecatholics.com}}
| bull date =
| founded date = {{start date|1860|04|24|df=y}}
| founder = Canon John Mitchell
| dedication = Saint George
| dedicated date =
| consecrated date = 23 April 1912
| status = Parish church
| functional status =
| heritage designation =
| designated date =
| architect = Benjamin Bucknall
| architectural type =
| style =
| years built = 1858–1912
| groundbreaking = 19 August 1858
| completed date = 23 April 1912
| construction cost = £6,000
| capacity = 350
| length =
| width =
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| parish = St George, Taunton
| deanery = St Dunstan{{cite web |title=Parishes |url=https://cliftondiocese.com/parishes/ |website=Clifton Diocese |access-date=9 February 2024}}
| diocese = Clifton
| province = Birmingham
| embedded =
{{Designation list
| embed = yes
| designation1 = Grade II* Listed Building
| designation1_offname = The Roman Catholic Church of St George
| designation1_date = 4 July 1975
| designation1_number = 1231201
| designation2 = Grade II Listed Building
| designation2_offname = Rectory adjoining The Roman Catholic Church of St George
| designation2_date = 4 July 1975
| designation2_number = 1060068
}}
}}
The Church of St George is a Roman Catholic church in Taunton, Somerset, which dates from the mid-19th century. It was the second Catholic church to be built in Taunton after the Reformation, replacing the much smaller St George's Chapel. The main church building is designated by Historic England as a {{nobr|Grade II*}} listed building, while the rectory is {{nobr|Grade II}} listed.
The Catholic community in Taunton grew throughout the 19th century and within 40 years of the completion of St George's Chapel, it was considered too small. The Church of St George was built on land donated by the town's Franciscan Convent, with funding raised by the rector, Rev John Mitchell. It was opened in 1860, although building work continued over the following decades, and a rectory and school were both added to the site. The church was not consecrated until 1912.
St George's was built during the Gothic Revival, and bears resemblance to the Somerset towers. It currently serves as one of two Catholic churches in Taunton, along with the Church of St Teresa's.
History
After the Reformation in the 16th century, Catholicism all but died in Taunton; an 1824 publication, The Protestant's Companion, noted that prior to the 19th century, "there were no Papists in Taunton".{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2sMrAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA371 |title=The Protestant's Companion |last=Daubeny |first=Charles |year=1824 |publisher=C & J Rivington |location=London |page=371}} This was a slight exaggeration; in 1787 a Mission Rector was sent to Taunton, and four years later, when Catholic chapels were legalised, he registered a chapel in a house on Canon Street. A permanent church, St George's Chapel, was built around thirty years later, by which time it was estimated that there were around 120 Catholics in the town.{{cite web|url=http://www.tauntoncatholicchurch.co.uk/history/4541152157 |title=History |publisher=Taunton Catholic Church |accessdate=6 February 2015}} The chapel could seat 200 people, and by the 1850s the Catholic population of Taunton had swelled to an extent that the chapel was no longer big enough for them.{{cite web|url= http://www.tauntoncatholicchurch.co.uk/history2/4541152167 |title=History page 2 |publisher=Taunton Catholic Church |accessdate=6 February 2015}}
The nearby Franciscan Convent purchased a plot of land adjacent to their own in 1858, which they donated for the purpose of building a new church, rectory and school. The rector of Taunton at the time, Rev John Mitchell, had grand plans including "a spire to rival that of Salisbury."{{efn|Referring to the {{convert|404|ft|m}} high spire on Salisbury Cathedral.}} In May 1858, an advertisement appeared in the Taunton Courier for a fund-raising bazaar and lottery for "building the tower and spire",{{cite news|url= http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000348/18580519/048/0002 |title=St George's New Catholic Church, Taunton |work=Taunton Courier |date=19 May 1858 |accessdate=18 February 2015 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} though the lottery was banned by the police.{{cite news|url= http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000348/18580526/038/0008 |title=St George's New Catholic Church |work=Taunton Courier |date=26 May 1858 |accessdate=18 February 2015 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} The first stone was laid on 19 August 1858, by the Right Rev William Clifford, the Bishop of Clifton, and building commenced to a design by Benjamin Bucknall.{{cite news|url= http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000348/18580825/025/0007 |title=The New Roman Catholic Church and Presbytery of St. John, Taunton |work=Taunton Courier |date=25 August 1858 |accessdate=18 February 2015 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} The church was opened just under two years later on 24 April 1860, with William Vaughan, Bishop of Plymouth, leading the Mass, while Francis Amherst, Bishop of Northampton, and James Brown, Bishop of Shrewsbury gave sermons throughout the day.{{cite news|url= http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000348/18600425/044/0008 |title=St George's New Roman Catholic Church |work=Taunton Courier |date=25 April 1860 |accessdate=18 February 2015 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}
The rectory was completed shortly after the church, while the school was opened in 1870; lessons had previously been given in a room at the back of St George's Chapel.{{cite web|url= http://www.tauntoncatholicchurch.co.uk/history-3/4541152179 |title=History 3 |publisher=Taunton Catholic Church |accessdate=21 February 2015}} Work continued on the tower, and further funds were collected in 1875;{{cite news|url= http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000348/18750630/089/0005 |title=Taunton News |work=Taunton Courier |date=30 June 1875 |accessdate=21 February 2015 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} the following year, one of the builders, George Toller, died after falling around {{convert|100|ft|m}} from the scaffolding.{{cite news|url= http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000348/18760216/052/0005 |title=Taunton News |work=Taunton Courier |date=16 February 1876 |accessdate=21 February 2015 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} The church was consecrated on 23 April 1912 by the Bishop of Clifton, who was assisted by 24 priests for the ceremony.{{cite news|url= http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000511/19120425/015/0003 |title=Notes |work=Devon and Exeter Gazette |date=25 April 1912 |accessdate=21 February 2015 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} A stained glass window was added to the west side of the church in June 1928, as a memorial to Canon James O'Shaughnessy who had served as rector of St George's from 1911 until his death in 1927.{{cite news|url= http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000527/19280627/121/0005 |title=Memorial at St George's, Taunton |work=Taunton Courier |date=27 June 1928 |accessdate=21 February 2015 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} A few years later, a parish hall was built in the rectory garden.{{cite news|url= http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000527/19321221/080/0004 |title=New Parochial Hall Opened |work=Taunton Courier |date=21 December 1932 |accessdate=21 February 2015 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}
A second Catholic church was opened in Taunton in 1959; dedicated to Saint Teresa of Lisieux, it is located in the Priorswood area to the north of the town. The Taunton Catholic Church website estimated that there were around 5,000 Catholics in Taunton in 2010.{{cite web|url= http://www.tauntoncatholicchurch.co.uk/history-4/4541153662 |title=History 4 |publisher=Taunton Catholic Church |accessdate=22 February 2015}} The current rector of St George's is Fr Tom Dubois.
Architecture
The church is built of red Monkton stone, with Bath stone ashlar dressings in an early 14th-century Gothic fashion. Nikolaus Pevsner described it as being a "competent imitation" of a Somerset tower, although he notes that the detailing is more flowing than the typical Perpendicular Gothic style of the Somerset towers.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=zaqpW4jc0JEC&pg=PA313 |title=The Buildings of England: South and West Somerset |last=Pevsner |first=Nikolaus |authorlink=Nikolaus Pevsner |publisher=Penguin Books |origyear=1958 |year=2001 |location=London |isbn=0-14-071014-0 |page=313}} The original design by Bucknall featured an {{convert|89|ft|m}} tall tower, topped by a spire which ascended a further {{convert|105|ft|m}}, but the spire was never built. The main entrance to the church is a set of large doors on the tower, facing out onto Billet Street. The cost of the building was estimated at £6,000. The church features a clerestoried nave typical of Gothic churches, and the windows are predominantly of the Decorated Gothic style. The chancel is flanked by two side chapels, which are at the ends of aisles.{{fact|date=February 2024}}
The church is designated by Historic England as a Grade II* listed building,{{National Heritage List for England |num=1231201 |desc=The Roman Catholic Church of St George |accessdate=4 April 2015}} and forms a group with the rectory, which is Grade II listed.{{National Heritage List for England |num=1060068 |desc=Rectory adjoining the Roman Catholic Church of St George |accessdate=4 April 2015}} The rectory is attached to the south-west end of the church, and is of a "late medieval or Tudor style". It is a two-storey building of white brick with ashlar dressings. There is a two-storey porch with diagonal buttresses and a large entrance arch. The roof is steep, with patterned slate tiles.
Notes
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References
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{{Diocese of Clifton}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint George's Church, Taunton}}
Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Taunton Deane
Category:Grade II* listed churches in Somerset