St Edmund's Church or St Edmund of Canterbury Church is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

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 ...

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 ...

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. Prior to 1965, it was part of Kent. It is situated north of Elmers End and Eden Park, east of Penge, south of Lower Sydenham and Bellingham, and west ...

, the Borough of Bromley,

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 ...

. It was built from 1937 to 1938 and designed by James O’Hanlon Hughes who also designed St George's Church, Polegate. Built in the late

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

, it is situated close to the town centre, on Village Way near the junction with the High Street. According to

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

's ''

The Buildings of England ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'', the church is "worthy of Sir

Giles Scott Giles Lyndon Scott (born 23 June 1987) is a British competitive sailor and four-time Finn Gold Cup winner and two-time Olympic gold medallist who won the gold medal for Team GB in the Finn Class at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro ...

himself".

History

Foundation

In 1891, a

mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

was started in Beckenham to serve the Catholics there. From that mission, a parish was started, and two churches were built before the current one was opened. The first church, on Overbury Avenue, was called the Church of the Transfiguration and St Benedict. The foundation stone was laid on 27 October 1891 by the

Archbishop of Southwark The Archbishop of Southwark (''Br'' �sʌðɨk is the ordinary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark. As such, he is the Metropolitan of the Province of Southwark. The archdiocese has an area of and covers the London Boroughs south o ...

, John Butt. The church was designed by R. A. Boase in 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 ...

. It had stained glass windows designed by

Nathaniel Westlake Nathaniel Hubert John Westlake FSA (1833–1921) was a 19th-century British artist specialising in stained glass. Career Nathaniel Westlake was born in Romsey in 1833. He began to design for the firm of Lavers & Barraud, Ecclesiastical Designe ...

. It was quite small, cost £1,500, and a planned second part of the church was never built, and the church has since been demolished.

Construction

In 1920, the church got its own

. A new larger church was needed to accommodate the growing congregation. The site of the current church was purchased and a temporary church was built on the same street. On 24 April 1927, the temporary church was opened. Like the current church, it was named after St Edmund of Canterbury. While the temporary church was being used, plans were made and fundraising was done for the construction of the current church. On 3 July 1937, the foundation stone for the current church was laid by the

Peter Amigo Peter Emmanuel Amigo (26 May 1864 – 1 October 1949) was a Roman Catholic bishop in the Catholic Church in England and Wales. He founded The John Fisher School in 1929. Biography Peter Amigo was born at Gibraltar, the ninth of eleven children bo ...

. The church was designed by James O'Hanlon Hughes. He also designed St George's Church, Polegate and St Thomas More Church in Seaford. He designed the church in a

reminiscent of

Giles Gilbert Scott Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (9 November 1880 – 8 February 1960) was a British architect known for his work on the New Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, Battersea Power Station, Liverpool Cathedral, and de ...

. The total cost of the church and its furnishings was £16,500. In 1938, the church was opened.

Developments

In 1938, 1946, 1965, 1969 and 1971, stained glass windows were added to the church. They were made by Hardman & Co. In 1975, the parish hall was built opposite the church. Throughout the 1970s, the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

was moved forward, the

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

and the altar rails removed, and the

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...

stand was moved to the southeast chapel.

Parish

The church is in the deanery of Bromley, and has four Sunday Masses at 6:00 pm on Saturday, and at 9:30 am, 11:00 am, and 5:30 pm on Sunday.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Edmund's Church Beckenham Churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark Gothic Revival church buildings in London 1927 establishments in England 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Roman Catholic churches completed in 1938 Christian organizations established in 1927 Roman Catholic churches in the London Borough of Bromley 20th-century church buildings in England