The total length of Doran Webbs church is 198, of which the nave accounts for 152; the total breadth is 57 of which the nave is 45. By 1959s the chestnut-wood ceiling was still untouched, but in that year it was decorated by Hardman Studios to commemorate the 70th anniversary of priesthood of F. Denis Sheil. Within the decoration are the coats of arms of Dr Ullathorne, first Bishop of Birmingham, Pope Leo XIII, who created Newman cardinal, Saint Philip Neri and Oriel and Trinity Colleges, Oxford. The ceiling is tunnel-vaulted, instead of the flat roof more usual in a basilica-style building, lighting being provided by dormer windows set into the roof and from four rectangular windows in the drum of the dome.
![A Station of the Cross](images/stationx.gif) |
A Station
of the Cross |
The columns in the nave are of Breccia marble from the Ligurian mountains; they are 17 8 long and with the green Swedish marble bases on which they stand and the capitals they support, the total height is 21 8.The columns in the nave are of Breccia marble from the Ligurian mountains; they are 17 8 long and with the green Swedish marble bases on which they stand and the capitals they support, the total height is 21 8.
The rear gallery, which sits above the north walk of the cloister quadrangle, contains pictures of ten Popes, all connected with S. Philip, Cardinal Newman or the history of the Church in England. They were painted in 1895 for the tercentenary of S. Philips death and were transferred to the new church. The artist was Miss Maycock, a great granddaughter of Hansom, the Architect. This gallery contains a small Harrison organ, which was acquired for the Oratory in 1994.
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