St Dunstan's Church 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 ...

Parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. At first it was built in 1899, replaced by a larger church in 1923 and its final form was built in 2008. The church was dedicated that year by the

Bishop of Arundel and Brighton The Bishop of Arundel and Brighton is the ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton in the Province of Southwark, England. The bishop's official residence is Bishop's House, The Upper Drive, Hove, East Sussex. The most rec ...

and

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor Cormac Murphy-O'Connor (24 August 1932 – 1 September 2017) was a British cardinal, the Archbishop of Westminster and president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. He was made cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001. He su ...

. It is set back in its own plot from Shaftesbury and Pembroke Roads within a mile of the town's centre. It is the only Catholic church in the town and is the centre of the

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

of Woking in the

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 ...

.Deaneries
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retrieved 16 September 2013

History

Percy Street

In 1850, there was the

Restoration of the English Catholic hierarchy was a papal bull of 29 September 1850 by which Pope Pius IX recreated the Roman Catholic diocesan hierarchy in England, which had been extinguished with the death of the last Marian bishop in the reign of Elizabeth I. New names were given to ...

. However, there was no place of worship for Catholics in

. Instead, Catholics travelled to Send or to St Edward the Confessor Church in Sutton Green to celebrate Mass. In 1899, a Fr W. D. Allanson built an iron church in Percy street, Woking, dedicated to

St Dunstan Saint Dunstan (c. 909 – 19 May 988) was an English bishop. He was successively Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury, later canonised as a saint. His work restored monastic life i ...

.Woking
from

British History Online ''British History Online'' is a digital library of primary and secondary sources on medieval and modern history of Great Britain and Ireland. It was created and is managed as a cooperative venture by the Institute of Historical Research, Universi ...

retrieved 16 September 2013

Heathside Crescent

Roman Catholic church, Kingfield, Woking - geograph

In 1923, a Fr. Plummer replaced a Fr. John Peall as parish priest and wanted a new church to be built in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

. Plans were soon drawn up and on 26 April 1925, Bishop William Brown, Auxiliary Bishop of Southwark and

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Pella of laid the foundation stone at the new site on Heathside Crescent. The church was 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.Knaphill Knaphill is a village in Surrey, England, between Woking to the east and Aldershot to the west; to the south and north on the A322 – its western border – are Brookwood, and Bisley. Some of the village is on a hill, hence its name. ...

was opened in 1907, Our Lady Help of Christians Church in

West Byfleet West Byfleet is a village in Surrey which grew up around its relatively minor stop on the London & South Western Railway: the station, originally ''Byfleet and Woodham'', opened in 1887. More than from the medieval village of Byfleet, the i ...

in 1954 and Our Lady Mother of God Church in the Kingfield area of Woking in 1962. After the

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, many

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immigrants came to work in Woking. In 1973, Masses in Italian were held on Sunday for the community. In 1953, the first parish school was opened, then in 1958 St Dunstan's School was opened and then St Francis School in 1973. In 1993, they were combined to form St Dunstan's Primary School.

Shaftesbury Road

When St Francis School was closed, its site on Shaftesbury Road was not sold, but retained. In 2003, the decision was made to develop the site to build a new church that would replace the Our Lady Mother of God church and St Dunstan's on Heathside Crescent. In 2006, construction work began. In March 2006, Our Lady Mother of God Church was closed in anticipation of the new church being built. On 13 July 2006, as part of the redevelopment of parish facilities, Bishop Kieran Conry moved the remains of Fr Plummer to St Edward the Confessor Church in Sutton Green. On 8 August 2008, the building was completed and the first Mass was celebrated the next day. The new church was dedicated on 22 October 2008 by the

Kieran Conry Kieran Thomas Conry (born 1 February 1951) is a Roman Catholic bishop. He was the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton from 2001 until his resignation in 2014. Early life and ordination Conry was born in Coventry and educated at All Souls Roman Ca ...

and Cardinal Cormac Murphy – O'Connor.

Parish

The church has a close relationship with St. Dunstan's Primary School. The church has five Sunday Masses every week, 6:00pm on Saturday evening (for Sunday), 9:00am, 10:30am Sunday morning, an Italian Mass at 12 noon and a Sunday evening Mass at 5:30pm. There are weekday Masses from Monday to Saturday at 10:00am In September 2013, John Lillis, a former choirmaster and organist at the church, was jailed for six years after being found guilty of attempted buggery and two counts of indecent assault against boys under the age of 16. In November 2013 his sentence was increased to eight years. Lillis had previously pleaded guilty to four other counts of indecent assault committed between 1973 and 1982. He had been a music teacher at St. Dunstan's School during those years.

References

External links

St Dunstan's Parish site
{{Diocese of Arundel and Brighton Woking

Roman Catholic churches completed in 2008 2008 establishments in England 21st-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom