The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church in

Englefield Green Englefield Green is a large village in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, approximately west of central London. It is home to Royal Holloway, University of London. The village grew from a hamlet in the 19th century, when much of Egham ( ...

, Surrey. It is situated on St Cuthbert's Close and faces Harvest Road in the older side of the village close to Egham Hill. It was built from 1930 to 1931 and designed by

Joseph Goldie Edward Goldie (1856–1921) was an English ecclesiastical architect who was notable for building Roman Catholic churches, mainly in the form of Gothic Revival architecture. He was the son of George Goldie.listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

, in two separate reports, stated "this is a thumping great church"Architectural and Historic Review of Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton
from

Diocese of Arundel and Brighton The Roman Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton (in la, Dioecesis Arundeliensis-Brichtelmestunensis) is a Latin Church Roman Catholic diocese in southern England covering the counties of Sussex and Surrey (excluding Spelthorne, which is pa ...

. Retrieved 20 February 2015 and "many churches were being built in the Romanesque style in the 1930s ... but Goldie's church is better composed and more competently detailed than most."Englefield Green – The Assumption of Our Lady
from

. Retrieved 20 February 2015

History

Foundation

In 1903, a priest came at least weekly from

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

to serve local Catholics in

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

was held in a small chapel of an iron framework within the grounds of ''Sandylands'', the home of Major General Arthur Kennedy Rideout who also arranged transport for the priest. In 1907, a larger wooden church was built on Harvest Road, named St Cuthbert's Church. The chapel at Sandylands was moved and attached to the church.History
from PoEgham.wordpress.com. Retrieved 20 February 2015

Construction

In the late 1920s, Gerard and Miriam Jurgens bought the site for a new church and paid its construction. The foundation stone was laid on 25 October 1930. On 20 September the next year, the church was opened. It is in an Italian basilica style and was designed by

George Goldie Sir George Dashwood Taubman Goldie (20 May 1846 – 20 August 1925) was a Manx administrator who played a major role in the founding of Nigeria. In many ways, his role was similar to that of Cecil Rhodes elsewhere in Africa but he did ...

. He designed the Church of Our Lady and St Peter in

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leathe ...

. The Jurgens family asked for the dedication to be changed to the

Assumption of Our Lady The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by Go ...

. After the church was built, the old wooden church was attached to the new church and became the parish hall.

Architecture

Exterior

The church is in the form of a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

with a polygonal

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

. A tower rounds off the southeast side. Chapels grace both

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

s. The building is painted white and has Roman tiles on the roof. There is a priest's house to the east of the church and a parish hall to the south, all painted white similar to the church.

Interior

The church has a nave with narrow central aisle and cloistered aisles to the sides. The entire interior is painted. Above the main altar is a painting of the

Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution '' Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by ...

by the Spanish artist

Antonio Palomino Acislo Antonio Palomino de Castro y Velasco (165513 April 1726) was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period, and a writer on art, author of ''El Museo pictórico y escala óptica'', which contains a large amount of important biographical mate ...

, painted in the seventeenth century. The organ was given to the church by David Greig, owner of the supermarket chain.

Parish

St John of Rochester Church, Egham Hythe

The church is in the parish of Saint Cuthbert, which includes the Saint John of Rochester Church in

Egham Hythe Egham Hythe, Pooley Green and Thorpe Lea are adjacent settlements in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately west of central London. They are separated from the town of Egham by the M25 and from Staines upon Thames by the Ri ...

and the Catholic chaplaincy to the nearby

Royal Holloway College Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

: St John of Rochester Church has two Masses, at 6:00 pm on Saturday and at 9:15 am on Sunday. Our Lady holds Mass at 11:00 am on Sunday. Royal Holloway holds Mass at 7:30 pm on Sunday.

Interior

Our Lady's Church, Englefield Green.jpg, Interior Our Lady's Church, Englefield Green altar.jpg, Altar File:The organ within The Assumption of Our Lady, Englefield Green - geograph.org.uk - 1354741.jpg, Organ

References

External links

Egham Parish site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Englefield Green, Assumption of Our Lady Roman Catholic churches in Surrey Roman Catholic churches completed in 1931 Romanesque Revival church buildings in England 1931 establishments in England 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom

History

Foundation

Construction

Architecture

Exterior

Interior

Parish

Interior

See also

References

External links