the windows are clockwise from the entrance.
It was in St Martin’s Lane, in, what was described as, the ‘miserable room which served as a chapel for the Catholics of Salisbury’, that on 6 June 1835 Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, the leader of the nineteenth century Gothic Revival,was received into the Roman Catholic Church. He had become involved with Salisbury’s Catholics shortly after moving to Salisbury, and had undertaken some improvement to their little chapel. By 24 March 1835 he had finished a new altar and in early June he started altering and painting the chancel, all of which was finished by the day he was ‘received into [the] Holy Catholic church’.
Pugin’s stay in Salisbury was short, though he made many friends whilst he was there. John Lambert (1815-92) was one of these, a Catholic of some distinction who became mayor of Salisbury in 1854 and a Privy Councillor in 1885. As Catholic confidence grew there emerged a desire for a new and much grander chapel than the simple affair in St Martin’s Lane and, in 1846, Pugin was asked to produce drawings for a chapel that would be erected on a piece of land on Exeter Street. This was to be the gift of two laymen; Lambert would finance the building and another local Catholic, John Peniston, would provide the land.
Interior: 19th Century
The site on Exeter Street was not only immediately outside the Cathedral Close, but also almost in line with the Cathedral’s eastern end. The Cathedral held the shrine of St Osmund, so Salisbury’s Catholics were determined to recapture the saint, and dedicate their church to him.
The humble Catholic chapel was to replace the Cathedral as the true symbol of Catholicism.
The Rev. Dr Ullathorne Vicar-Apostolic of the Western District, laid the foundation stone on 8 April 1847. In a somewhat propagandist report, which was perhaps written or inspired by Lambert, the Salisbury Journal reported how ‘numerous clergy’ celebrated the event which was enhanced by ‘an able choir’ and the presence of local dignitaries, including Lord Arundel the Catholic peer, who laid the second stone. A simple flint church with ashlar stone dressings started to rise up: chancel, nave, south aisle, chapel, south western tower topped by a simple low broached spire and a sacristy beyond the eastern end of the south aisle with an organ gallery above. All in a style that the Salisbury Journal described as fourteenth-century ‘decorated’, and the Builder, in a less gushing report, referred to as an ‘Early Decorated style’ Pugin only visited the site once, on 14 October 1847, presumably because he had complete faith in the builder and work was progressing without problems.
On 2 September 1848 the Salisbury Journal announced that the Rt. Rev Bishop Hendren would consecrate the church on Wednesday 6 September. It would then be opened with a solemn Mass of dedication on 7 September at 10.30 am. There would be Vespers and Benediction in the evening. The Mass would be sung in plain chant of St. Gregory and while admission was free, those who wished to attend would require a ticket because demand for seats was expected to exceed the supply. The resulting building is both beautiful and simple. Despite its limited size, the proportions are well balanced, the materials simple and the overall effect, one of beauty.
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