Our Lady of Loreto and St Winefride's is the

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, ...

for the Roman Catholic parish of

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its living collections include some of the ...

in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The church is located at 1 Leyborne Park in

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

History and description

The Society of Mary first established a

Catholic mission Missionary work of the Catholic Church has often been undertaken outside the geographically defined parishes and dioceses by religious orders who have people and material resources to spare, and some of which specialized in missions. Eventually, p ...

in a temporary

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

at 14 Kew Gardens Road, which opened for public worship on 26 October 1898 with Father Michael Cummins as the first

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

, and was named Loreto House. The Society of Mary continued to serve the parish until 1984. The church is dedicated to both Our Lady of Loreto and Saint Winefride. The founder of the Society of Mary had made a pilgrimage to the Loreto shrine in Italy in 1833 after asking for the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

's approval to establish the society; and Saint Winefride was the favourite saint of one of this church's principal local benefactors, Miss Frances Elizabeth Ellis (1846–1930) of

Clapham Park Clapham Park is an area in the Borough of Lambeth in London, to the south of central Clapham and west of Brixton. History The original Clapham Park Estate was a speculative development by Thomas Cubitt, who bought of Bleak Hall Farm in 1825 ...

, whose inheritance from her father, a wealthy Brighton businessman, enabled her to help found many churches. Designed by the architects Scoles & Raymond,Scoles & Raymond was the architectural practice of Canon Alexander Joseph Cory Scoles (1844–1920), who was parish priest of Basingstoke from 1901 to 1920, and Geoffrey Raymond (1881–1972) his junior partner and, from 1920, his successor in architectural practice. Canon Scoles was the younger son of

Joseph John Scoles Joseph John Scoles (1798–1863) was an English Gothic Revival architect, who designed many Roman Catholic churches. Early life and education Scoles was born in London on 27 June 1798, the son of Roman Catholic parents Matthew Scoles, a joiner, ...

(1798–1863), architect (1837) of St James the Less Church, Priory Street,

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

.
Fro
''Directory of British Architects'', 1834–1914: Vol. 2 (L–Z)
ed. Antonia Brodie (London, 2001), p. 552 and the church was opened in 1906 and the side aisles,

baptistery In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...

and chapels were added in 1968. The

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 ...

was remodelled in 1977 and the church was refurbished and decorated in 1998. A parish hall, which also includes a smaller meeting room, is located next to the church. After a bequest in 1979 by a parishioner, Mrs Moya Rinkenback, paid off the church's debts, the church was dedicated and consecrated on 27 April 1979 by Archbishop Michael Bowen, the

Archbishop of Southwark The Archbishop of Southwark (''Br'' �sʌðɨk is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark in England. As such he is the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Province of Southwark. The archdiocese has an area of and covers the Lon ...

. The parish priest is Canon Brian Coyle.

Notable congregants

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

fighter pilot and flying ace Brendan "Paddy" Finucane (1920–1942), whose family lived at 26 Castlegate, Richmond,Stokes, Doug. (1983). ''Paddy Finucane, Fighter Ace: A Biography of Wing Commander Brendan E. Finucane, D.S.O., D.F.C. and Two Bars''. London: William Kimber & Co. Ltd. . (republished Somerton, Somerset, UK: Crécy Publishing, 1992, ). pp. 22-24. was a former altar server at the church.

School

A school for infants, St Winefride's School, which was associated with the church and parish, operated from the 1910s until the early 1950s.Rundle, pp.10–11

Note

References

Sources

* Rundle, Joan (2006). ''Our Lady of Loreto and St Winefride 1906–2006: A Short History of the Church and the Parish''. Privately published

External links

*
Description and history on ''Taking Stock: Catholic churches of England & Wales
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kew, Our Lady of Loreto and Saint Winefride 1898 establishments in England 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Churches in the Diocese of Southwark Our Lady Roman Catholic churches completed in 1906 Roman Catholic churches in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Romanesque Revival church buildings in England