The Church of the Most Precious Blood is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church in the

Archdiocese of Southwark The Archdiocese of Southwark () is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in England. It is led by the Archbishop of Southwark. The archdiocese is part of the Metropolitan Province of Southwark, which covers the South of England. Th ...

in the Pastoral Care of the

Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England and Wales is a personal ordinariate in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church immediately exempt, being directly subject to the Holy See. It is within the territory of the Catholic ...

, situated on O'Meara Street in

Southwark, London Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

, SE1. The church and its adjoining presbytery, forecourt walls and shrine have been listed Grade II on the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

since 2014. The shrine outside the church to

Our Lady of Lourdes Our Lady of Lourdes (; ) is one the Marian devotions, devotional names or titles under which the Catholic Church venerates the Mary, mother of Jesus, Virgin Mary. The name commemorates a series of Lourdes apparitions, 18 apparitions reported by ...

(or Our Lady of All Nations) was dedicated in 1957. It is made from Sicilian marble and stands in a niche lined with

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

from Norfolk. The church serves the Parish of the Most Precious Blood which was established in 1891 by the Bishop of Southwark, John Baptist Butt, upon a bequest of £10,000. The church was designed by the architect

Frederick Walters Frederick Arthur Walters (5 February 1849–3 December 1931) was a Scottish architect working in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, notable for his Roman Catholic churches. Life Walters was born on 5 February 1849 at 6 South Terrace, Brompton, Lond ...

and the combined cost of the construction of the church and adjoining presbytery was £7,000. Denis Evinson, in his book ''Catholic Churches of London'', described the interior as "...a joy to enter, warm, welcoming and uncluttered by busy detail". The two bells of the church were made in the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...

and installed in 1956. The

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...

that adorn the walls of the interior were made from

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

by the Swiss artist . In 2013, the parish joined the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southwark, Most Precious Blood 1891 establishments in England 1891 in London 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Arts and Crafts architecture in England Frederick Walters buildings

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

Roman Catholic churches completed in 1892 Roman Catholic churches in the London Borough of Southwark Romanesque Revival church buildings in England Personal ordinariates