pakefieldrc

St Nicholas RC, Pakefield

Pakefield is a southern suburb of Lowestoft, and Lowestoft is home to Suffolk's grandest Catholic church, Our Lady, Star of the Sea. However, like most Catholic churches in Suffolk, Our Lady isn't really big enough any more, so St Nicholas serves as its chapel of ease south of the river.

The main entrance, in the south east corner.

St Nicholas was built by the same architects as Our Lady, Baines and Baines of London. It was built at the same time, and of the same materials, albeit on a much humbler scale. What makes it remarkable, however, is that it was not built as a Catholic church at all.

On May 8th, 1902, just a month before Our Lady opened for business, the foundation stone was laid here for what was to be South Cliff Congregational church.

The benefactor of the site was J. Colman of Norwich, and the church opened in 1903.

The church consists of an Early English-style nave in red brick with white bandings, with large Perpendicular windows.

An octagonal turret sits on the south-east corner, with a tall, tapering tower and spirelet in the north-east corner.

A sanctuary bell-style fleche sitsd on the nave roof, and small transepts accomodate a vestry and an organ.

The whole thing is a rather primitive version of Leonard Stokes' work, at Sudbury for instance, particularly in its use of banding, a corner tower and a fleche.

A hall was added to the west end of the building after the Second World War, and in 1961 the South Cliff community were one of the Congregational churches absorbed into the new United Reformed Church, and this became Pakefield URC.

Unfortunately, the changing denominational climate meant that numbers here rapidly fell, and eventually Pakefield URC closed, the congregation moving in with the one up the road at Kirkley. The building stood empty until 1995, until an approach was made to the trustees by the Diocese of East Anglia, keen to find a presence in the south Lowestoft area.

On August 11th, 1995, an emotional ecumenical service was held in the newly dedicated St Nicholas Catholic church.

The transition was marked by a 'Presentation of the Gospels' ceremony, in which Reverend Donald Clarke, the retired former minister of the URC church handed a bible to the Catholic Priest, Father Tony Sketch, signifying the continuance of Christian teaching and worship in this place.

The congregation was made up of Catholics and Congregationalists who had been members of the former congregation here, and the ecumenical Churches Together in Lowestoft was also represented.

A slate plaque on the east wall commemorates the building's history, a marker of the continuity of this sacred space across the generations, and across the denominations.

From the north east. The tower looks very much its age, the mock-sanctuary bell turret from a half century earlier.

St Nicholas, Pakefield, is at the junction between Pakefield Road and Morton Road in South Lowestoft. Unfortunately, it is kept locked, which no Catholic church should be. Contact the Presbytery at Our Lady Star of the Sea, or phone (01502) 580633.

In preparation of this entry, I have referred extensively to Clive Brooks' excellent history of Lowestoft parish published in the East Anglia Diocesan Yearbook 2000, available from any Catholic church.