ROMAN CATHOLIC PLACES OF WORSHIP

See Also: CHURCH OF ENGLAND CHURCHES; MENU

Website: www.rcsouthwark.co.uk (Southwark) www.rcdow.org.uk (Westminster)

Brompton Oratory

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The Institute of the Oratory¹ of St Philip Neri & The Immaculate Heart of Mary was founded in Rome in 1575. In 1848 it was introduced into England by Cardinal John Henry Newman and Father Wilfrid Faber. The Institute moved to Brompton six years later. The present church was opened in 1884. It was completed thirteen years later. The Oratory served as London's foremost Roman Catholic place of worship until Westminster Cathedral opened in 1903.

During the Cold War Brompton Oratory was used by Soviet spies as a dead letter drop .

Location: Brompton Road, SW7 2RP (orange, purple)

Website: www.bromptonoratory.co.uk

¹. An oratory is a congregation of secular priests, or fathers (not monks), who are bound by the three religious vows - poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Farm Street Church of The Immaculate Conception

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The Jesuit-run Farm Street Church of The Immaculate Conception was opened in 1849 as a non-parochial church. The high-calibre of its priests led to its becoming known beyond Roman Catholic circles. In 1966 it became a parish church.

Location: 114 Mount Street, W1K 3AH (orange, turquoise)

Website: www.farmstreet.org.uk https://parish.rcdow.org.uk/farmstreet www.jesuit.org.uk

Notre Dame de France

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The Church of Notre Dame de France is a French Roman Catholic church. The original church hosted its first mass in 1868. The building was badly damaged by an aerial bomb during the Second World War. A second church was completed in the mid-1950s. The walls of its Lady Chapel were decorated by Jean Cocteau in 1960.

Location: 5 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BP (red, blue)

Website: www.ndfchurch.org

St Anne's Shoreditch

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In 2006 it was reported that the congregation at St Anne's in Shoreditch was overwhelming composed of Brazilians.

Location: Underwood Road, E1 5AW (orange, purple)

Website: https://parish.rcdow.org.uk/underwoodroad

St Anselm & St Cecilia

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The Sardinian Ambassador's Chapel (1648) was used by English Roman Catholics, who at the time had no official churches of their own.

In 1780 the Sardinian Chapel was one of the buildings that was destroyed by the Gordon Riot rioters.¹ The worshippers were compensated and a new chapel was built. This one was demolished to accommodate the construction of Kingsway (1905). The Church of St Anselm & St Cecilia (1909) was built to replace it.

Location: 62 Kingsway, WC2B 6DX (blue, brown)

Website: https://parish.rcdow.org.uk/lincolnsinnfields

¹. The Bavarian Chapel in Warwick Street, Soho, was also used by British Roman Catholics. It too was attacked during the riots.

St Ethelreda's

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The Chapel of St Ethelreda's (1293) was a private chapel that belonged to the Bishops of Ely. In 1772 the official diocesan residence moved from Ely Place to Dover Street. St Ethelreda's became a proprietary chapel. In 1836 the building was bought by a congregation of Welsh Episcopalians. In 1874 its congregation sold it to the Rosminian Fathers. Thereby, it became the first pre-Reformation church in the country to become a Roman Catholic place of worship since the Reformation.

Location: Ely Place, EC1N 6RY (purple, turquoise)

Website: www.stethelreda.com https://parish.rcdow.org.uk/elyplace

St Patrick's Soho

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The advent of French Revolution had imparted a new respectability to Roman Catholicism in Britain. The original St Patrick's Church (1793) was built to provide somewhere for St Giles s impoverished Irish Catholics to worship. The present church building dates from 1893. It has a pleasant brick exterior.

Location: 21a Soho Square, W1D 3QP (purple, turquoise)

Website: www.stpatricksoho.org https://parish.rcdow.org.uk/sohosquare

Westminster Cathedral

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Westminster Cathedral is the principal Catholic church in England.

A fund to the memory of Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman (d.1865) the inaugural Archbishop of Westminster furnished the financial basis for the construction of a cathedral. In 1884 Cardinal Henry Manning, his successor, bought the former Middlesex County Prison. The building was demolished the following year although its foundations were retained to serve as those of the Cathedral. This helped lower the building costs of the project. In 1895 the foundation stone was laid. The architectural design was created by John Francis Bentley. The Early Christian Byzantine style was cheaper to build than an ornate Gothic alternative that was also considered. The Cathedral opened for services in 1903, and the consecration ceremony was held in 1910. It is a pleasant building to be in.

Location: 42 Francis Street, SW1P 1QW (purple, red)

Website: www.westminstercathedral.org.uk

David Backhouse 2024