St Walburge
Preston, Lancashire
The largest non cathedral Catholic church with the tallest parish spire in the country, open to all.
Its foundation stone was laid in September 1906, and the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Manchester on 2 July 1908.
St Michael’s is dated 1908 and was designed by the Lancaster firm of Austin and Paley. It is a large building with a tall nave and side aisles. The tower on the south elevation is incomplete so as to only have a single, ground floor stage and no upper stages. It is now capped with a shallow pitched, pyramidal roof, covered, as all other original roof slopes, with terracotta ‘Rosemary’ tiles. The building’s walls are constructed of snecked sandstone with ashlar dressings. The acoustics are superb for musical and choral events. The roof of the vestries and ancillary rooms on the north side of the chancel are flat and now covered with stainless steel which, it is assumed, replaced the original lead sheeting.
