Church of St. Francis, Salisbury

The church was founded in 1930 to serve the new residential neighbourhood to the north of the city. Parochial work began in 1930, with the consent of the vicars of Stratford-sub-Castle and St Mark's, and with much voluntary help a temporary wooden church was built on the eastern side of Stratford Road and dedicated in November 1930. In 1937 a new district was established, partly from the parish of Stratford-sub-Castle and partly from that of St. Mark's, and a vicar was installed. In the same year a building committee was formed and a new site at the junction of Beatrice Road and Castle Road purchased. Building work began in 1938, the foundation stone was laid in January 1939 and the church was consecrated in 1940. It is in the modern style with a wide nave with passage aisles and an apsidal Lady Chapel behind the Sanctuary instead of a chancel. On the south side of the church is a tower, 70 feet high. The cavity walls are faced with varigated red bricks and the dressings are of reconstituted stone. The roofs are of reinforced concrete covered with asphalt. The church has acquired the bells of the church of St. Giles at Imber, which no longer had need of them. The parish registers for christenings from 1930 and marriages from 1940, other than those in current use, are held in the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham.