Sacred Heart Church 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 Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

and

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

Teddington Teddington is an affluent suburb of London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Historically an Civil parish#ancient parishes, ancient parish in the county of Middlesex and situated close to the border with Surrey, the district became ...

, southwest

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, that serves the Catholic community of Teddington and

Hampton Wick Hampton Wick is a Thamesside area of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England, contiguous with Teddington, Kingston upon Thames and Bushy Park. Market gardening continued until well into the twentieth century. With its road and rail ...

. It is in the Upper Thames Deanery of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster The Archdiocese of Westminster (Latin: ''Dioecesis Vestmonasteriensis'') is a Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church in England. The diocese consists of most of London north of the River Thames and west of the River Lea, the borough of Speltho ...

and is situated at 262 Kingston Road, approximately midway between the junctions with Kingston Bridge and

Teddington Lock Footbridge The Teddington Lock Footbridges are two footbridges over the River Thames in England, situated just upstream of Teddington Lock at Teddington. There is a small island between the bridges. The two footbridges were built between 1887 and 1889, ...

History

From the late 18th century there were

linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Lin ...

bleach Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color from (i.e. to whiten) fabric or fiber (in a process called bleaching) or to disinfect after cleaning. It often refers specifically t ...

ing works located in the fields along the banks of the nearby

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

, now the site of

Teddington Studios Teddington Studios was a large British television studio in Teddington, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, providing studio facilities for programmes airing on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky One and others. The complex also prov ...

, Lensbury Club and

Teddington School Teddington School is a co-educational state school for ages 11–18 (11-16 for the main school and 16-18 for the sixth form), located in Teddington in the borough of Richmond upon Thames in south-west London. It has had academy status since 20 ...

. There were one or two Roman Catholic families associated with these works. A temporary Roman Catholic chapel was first opened in Hampton Wick in 1882. In 1884 a Roman Catholic school was built in Fairfax Road, South Teddington. Named ''Chantry House'', the ground floor was used for the school whilst the first floor served as a chapel until the church was built. The

classical style Classical architecture typically refers to architecture consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or more specifically, from ''De architectura'' (c. 10 AD) by the Roman architect Vitruvius. Va ...

brick church with stone dressings was designed by John Kelly, of Leeds firm

Kelly & Birchall Kelly & Birchall, a partnership between Edward Birchall (1839 – 6 March 1903) and John Kelly (1840–1904), was an architectural practice based in Leeds, England, from 1886 to 1904 and specialising in churches in the Italianate and Gothic Rev ...

, who also designed several other contemporary churches in the area. The church opened in 1893 with seating for up to 200 people. It comprised five bays with

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

s, and a short apsidal chancel. In 1934–35, under Fr Philip Foley, the church was extended westwards, adding a further two bays to accommodate a presbytery.

Parish

The parish of Teddington and Hampton Wick is bounded in the east and south by the river Thames from a point north of

Teddington Lock Teddington Lock is a complex of three locks and a weir on the River Thames between Ham and Teddington in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. Historically in Middlesex, it was first built in 1810. The limit of legal powe ...

to a point midway between Kingston Bridge and

Hampton Court Bridge Hampton Court Bridge is a Grade II listed bridge that crosses the River Thames in England approximately north–south between Hampton, London and East Molesey, Surrey, carrying the A309. It is the upper of two road bridges on the reach ab ...

to the south roughly opposite

Thames Ditton Marina The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the ...

. The western boundary extends northwards through

Home Park Home Park is a football stadium in the area of Milehouse, Plymouth, Devon, England. With a capacity of 17,900, the ground has been the home of Plymouth Argyle Football Club since 1903, and was also used between 1900 and 1903 by Argyle Athlet ...

and

Bushy Park Bushy Park in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is the second largest of London's Royal Parks, at in area, after Richmond Park. The park, most of which is open to the public, is immediately north of Hampton Court Palace and Hampton ...

, then along the

A309 road The A309 is a mostly primary status A-road that runs in two sections, a short section in Twickenham and Teddington as a non-primary status A-road, as well as the much longer primary A-road section that runs from Hampton Court to Hook. Route ...

to Teddington Park Road which forms the northern boundary eastwards to the river. The school was managed by a small convent of three or four Sisters of Charity of St. Paul, established in Hampton Wick about 1885. The convent also ran a separate convent school, ''St Paul's Convent School'', at 253 Kingston Road. In 1910 the sisters moved St. Paul's Convent to premises next to the church in Kingston Road. In 1957 there were eight sisters. The parish school, Sacred Heart Primary School, moved from Chantry house to its present location in St Marks Road to the north of the church in 1963. Under Fr John Deehan the parish hall in Fairfax Road was sold in 2006 and the proceeds used towards the construction of the church's community rooms in 2006.

References

External links

Official website

Sacred Heart Church at the Diocese of Westminster
{{DEFAULTSORT:Teddington, Sacred Heart 1893 establishments in England 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...

Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster Roman Catholic churches completed in 1935 Roman Catholic churches in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames