Building record 1432100000 - St Francis Roman Catholic Church, Flackwell Heath

The Temperance Hall on Heath End Road was the permanent home of the Catholic community of St Francis in Flackwell Heath from 1970 until the end of 2004. The Hall was bought from the Temperance Society for use as a Mass Centre by Father William Oddy, the then parish priest of Bourne End. The building was completely renovated in the early 1980s. (B1).
Locally listed. 1881. Temperance Hall dating from 1881. Architect Arthur Vernon of High Wycombe. Contractor N Corby. Built by the Band of Hope to help combat the drink problem of the time. Rectangular plan open hall, with single storey lean-to to front elevation, incorporating small kitchen and meeting room. Yellow London Stock brick with red brick detailing. Double height hall with boarded ceiling on open trusses, decorative corbels. On the front elevation highly decorative gable end, with 3 cambered high level windows within a brick arch feature, herringbone brick work infill in contrasting colour. Ground floor has symmetrical 3 light windows under redbrick cambered arches, central front door, decorative porch gable thrusting through eaves. Side elevations have each 3 large windows 3 light windows up to eaves with attractive glazing bar arrangement at upper level. Simple buttresses with red brick detail. Rear has corrugated iron lean to. Two foundation stones on the front elevation, one illegible, the other 'This stone was laid by Mrs E Boyds 1 Aug 1881' (B2).