Catholic Furnishings

 

Friends of St Mary's Church, Cricklade, Wiltshire, U.K.

 

Chairman: Hugh Dudley, 4 Pleydells, Cricklade, SWINDON, SN6 6NG

Secretary: Gerry Dudley, 4 Pleydells, Cricklade, SWINDON, SN6 6NG

Treasurer: Tony Barratt, 13 Boundary Close, Stratton, SWINDON, SN2 7TF

 

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ST MARY’S CRICKLADE:  Since 1984

 

Although this beautiful Church contains many fine Anglican fittings its transition to Catholic usage has necessitated the acquisition of a number of devotional objects and other furnishings some of which are of interest.

 

The Holy Water Stoup was installed by David Greaves of Dike & Sons of Cirencester in memory of Joe O’Leary who died in 1984 shortly after the church was re-opened. Joe had been involved in the acquisition of the church and he constructed the wooden platform for the sanctuary. The Font was given a new lead liner in 2001 by Cox & Hall of Tetbury.

 

The Stations of the Cross were sponsored by various families in the parish and were blessed by Fr. Eamon McGlinchey on 18th February 1986.

 

The nineteenth century Statue of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception was the gift of the Sisters of St Clotilde who ran a school at Lechlade Manor from 1939 to 1998. It is probably French in origin. The pedestal comes from the former Benedictine Convent at Fernham, which closed in 2002. The wrought iron votive candle stand was the gift of Christine Spearing. The other statues in the church are of St Joseph and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

 

The Tabernacle or Aumbry for the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament was installed in 1990 and its brass canopy was added by Lesley Webb of Fairford in 2000. The Altar beneath the Tabernacle was used at Prior Park Chapel and then in the old St Augustine’s Church. The hanging Sanctuary Lamp is made of beaten brass and was made for the Church of St Teresa of Lisieux in Taunton when it was opened in 1959. Bill Pankhurst, a blacksmith from Oakridge Lynch, forged the wrought iron bracket. 

 

The Altar Table is covered by an English oak top that was made by Den Hatchett of the Cricklade Craft Workshop and it incorporates a marble altar stone from the Convent at Lechlade.

 

The oak Rood above the Chancel arch was carved by Patrick Conoley of Hartpury in 1960 when he was working for R.L. Boulton & Sons of Cheltenham. It was commissioned for the Chapel of the Annunciation at Lechlade where it hung behind the altar until the closure of the chapel in 1998. Patrick Conoley is a sculptor with over fifty years of experience and since 1965 he has worked as a free-lance sculptor and has completed over 300 commissions in wood, stone and marble including a carving of St Thomas of Canterbury at Fairford. The small wooden crucifix in the Sanctuary was carved in Oberammagau and presented to the church by Dorothy Foreman of Purton.

 

Fr. Richard Barton