Timeline

Lady Chapel added

The chapel was paid for by a bequest from the Fogarty family, who kept the Lord Clyde pub in Brookhill Road. Their son, John, had been training to become a priest when he died aged 19, on 12 July 1849. His father, also John Fogarty, died on 4th February 1850. The family burial vault is under the central aisle of the church. The bequest was not enough for the longer chapel that Pugin had envisaged in 1842, but the overall design is classic Pugin.

The chapel was built by Pugin’s regular builder, George Myers. The stained glass is by Hardman & Co. of Birmingham. Because of its Pugin connection, the company supplied most of the glass for the Houses of Parliament, and many other churches. The tiles on the footpace are the work of Minton & Co., inspired by Pugin to reinvent the medieval technique for making inlaid patterns that could not be worn off. In front of these can be seen the original floor tiles that elsewhere are now hidden under the wooden parquet flooring.