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Before the Reformation,
Lowestoft's Catholic priests ministered
the sacraments at the church of St
Margaret, on a hill to the
west of the modern town. That, of course,
is now in the care of the Church of
England, and the Anglicans also have a
number of other 19th and 20th century
churches around the town. But there is
only one parish church directly in
Lowestoft town centre, and that is the
Catholic church of Our Lady, Star of the
Sea, giving this building a special place
in the urban landscape. It is also the
most easterly Catholic parish church in
the entire British Isles. The dedication, Stella
Maris in Latin, would have been more
common before the Reformation; it was
probably the original dedication of Ipswich
St Mary at Quay.
Our lady is a magnificent late 19th
century essay in Early English cathedral
architecture, and quite the grandest
Catholic church in Suffolk, Beccles
and Bungay
not excepted. Its setting puts me in mind
more of France than England, with the bus
station beside it and its apsed east end
sticking out into the open market of the
Benjamin Britten shopping centre.
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The
red brick and white stone build together, a
sanctus bell turret rises from the spine, to
articulate something rather more sophisticated
than any of the other 19th century churches in
Lowestoft. The church was the work of Baines and
Richards, and the foundation stone was laid in
August 1900. The parish had been served by
missionary Priests from the Jesuit community at
Yarmouth, just over the Norfolk border, from
about 1850 onwards, and the community met in an
upstairs chapel in the now demolished Denes area.
The first Mass here was on June 5th 1902.
The
western entrance to the nave sits to the right of
the tower. You step into a porch area, and modern
glass doors lead into the body of the church. The
interior is decorated beautifully in a restrained
Arts and Crafts manner; although, having seen an
early postcard of the interior, I think that the
ceiling and wall murals are probably a little
later than the building itself. On entering, all
eyes are drawn to the sanctuary. With an apse behind, the altar sits in a
central position, with the high altar and reredos beyond it.
Above, a clerestory is filled with Kempe glass,
and above that the apse roof is painted with
Christ in majesty surrounded by the disciples.
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carved stations in the Arts and Crafts
manner, and there are other devotional
objects, including a 19th Century
seven sacrament fontpieta, an image
of Our Lady of Boulogne, and a large
wooden cross which may have come from a rood,
although I understand that this church
never had one. The
mural paintings of More and Fisher are
fine, as is the painting of Mary at the
foot of the cross in the Lady Chapel,
where there is also an icon of Our Lady
of Pity. Perhaps most beautiful of all is
the screenwork between chapels and
sanctuary.All around, on roofs, walls and
floor, are examples of the care and love
lavished on this building over the last
century. In so doing, the people here
have imbued it with a sense of continuity
as well.
This beautiful church has a
chapel of ease at Pakefield
St Nicholas,
on the other side of the river, a sign of
the busy life of this parish. Our Lady is
a credit to its parish, and a blessing to
the people of Lowestoft.
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Simon Knott, November 2009
   
   
 
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