Coldham Cottage
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The Church of Our Lady Immaculate and St Joseph, otherwise known as Coldham Cottage is the oldest continuing
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
Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
. It is in
Bury Road, Lawshall Bury Road, Lawshall is a linear settlement in the civil parish of Lawshall in the Babergh district in the county of Suffolk, England. The northern part of the settlement is in the civil parish of Bradfield Combust with Stanningfield in West Suffo ...
and is part of the
Diocese of East Anglia The Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church covering the counties of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Peterborough in eastern England. The diocese makes up part of the Catholic As ...
. It is in the Catholic parish of Bury St Edmunds.Our Lady Immaculate and St Joseph, Lawshall (Coldham Cottage)
Suffolk Churches In 1998, it was designated as a Grade II
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 ...
. The church is located in Bury Road near the entrance to Coldham Hall. From the time of the
Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
the history of the Catholic Mission had been closely linked to the Rookwood family and Coldham Hall. The hall itself is in the neighbouring parish of
Stanningfield Stanningfield is a village and former civil parish, since 1988 in the parish of Bradfield Combust with Stanningfield, in the West Suffolk district of the county of Suffolk, England. The village lies just off of the A134 road, about 5 miles (8& ...
but the main entrance gatehouse, the avenue and the present church are in Lawshall.


History

The Rookwoods who had been in the area since 1315, built a magnificent house in 1574 and pulled down their former residence. The new house was constructed with its "built-in" secret attic chapel, its hiding hole and escape down a chimney with an outer wall. Four years after the completion of the hall
Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...
paid her visit to Lawshall. Efforts were made by the Rookwoods to persuade her to visit them at the hall but these were rewarded by one of the family being thrown in prison in
Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...
where he later died. The disturbances between the
Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and
Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
probably touched the village in many ways. The tale of fines and confiscations can be followed in the Rookwood records. During these difficult times the priests sometimes stayed at Coldham Hall but their names were not recorded for security. Sometime during the late sixteenth century or early seventeenth century the attic chapel was no longer used for religious purposes. Another place was used for Mass, buried in the woods and surrounded by a moat. This second chapel was at a house named Barfords, and the building, with the remains of the chapel, survives. At about this time the Rookwoods were linked with the Gage family at
Hengrave Hall Hengrave Hall is a Grade I listed Tudor manor house in Hengrave near Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, England and was the seat of the Kitson and Gage families 1525–1887. Both families were Roman Catholic recusants. Architecture Work on the hou ...
when Sir Thomas Gage took over Coldham Hall from his mother, who was a Rookwood. His brother Fr. John Gage nearly brought the Coldham mission to an end by arranging for many people to travel to his new church in Bury St Edmunds. In an attempt to stop the drop in communicants at the beginning of the nineteenth century a third chapel was built at Coldham Hall. It is still there but no longer used for services. In 1865, when Fr. Patrick Rogers was priest, new challenges arose when Coldham Hall was sold because of financial difficulties. Mass was said at Barfords once again until 1870, when the presbytery at Coldham Cottage was adapted and extended to form the present church. At about this time the Catholic school was moved to a site adjacent to the new church. Coldham Cottage itself dates from the late seventeenth/early eighteenth century and has a timber-frame, whitewashed and rendered, with pantile roof and brick central ridge and right end projecting stacks. A separate church was created utilising one unit of the existing house (kitchen and bedroom with removal of floor) and building on an extension. The whole represents an unusual and rare instance of continuing Catholic use from at least the eighteenth century. Following renovation work to the cottage, there is now a resident priest as well as facility to provide holiday accommodation for clergy wanting to take time off from their own parishes. The present church is now the oldest Roman Catholic Mission in Suffolk.


See also

* Catholic Church in England


References

{{Babergh Roman Catholic churches in Suffolk Lawshall Grade II listed buildings in Suffolk