St Joseph's 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 ...

Parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, sharing its SW15 postcode with neighbouring Putney and Kingston Vale, and takes up a far western strip, running north to south, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large counc ...

in the

London Borough of Wandsworth Wandsworth () is a London boroughs, London borough in South West (London sub region), South West London, England. It forms part of Inner London and has an estimated population of 329,677 inhabitants. Its main communities are Battersea, Balham, P ...

. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1869 and designed by

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 ...

. It is situated on the corner of

Roehampton Lane Roehampton is an area in southwest London, sharing its SW15 postcode with neighbouring Putney and Kingston Vale, and takes up a far western strip, running north to south, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large counc ...

and Medfield Street.

History

The Jesuits arrived in Roehampton during the mid-nineteenth century and created a novitiate, Manresa House, which became

Whitelands College Whitelands College is the oldest of the four constituent colleges of the University of Roehampton. History Whitelands College is one of the oldest higher education institutions in England (predating every university except University of Oxford, ...

, now part of the

University of Roehampton The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. The University traces its r ...

. In 1869, they started a mission to the local Catholics in the area. In 1881, they decided to build a church that would permanently accommodate the congregation. They asked

to design the church for them. It was the first church he designed for the Jesuits and he would go on to design more buildings for them, such as Sacred Heart Church, Wimbledon, St Winefride Church, South Wimbledon and the chapel of

Wimbledon College Wimbledon College is a government-maintained, voluntary-aided, Jesuit Catholic secondary school and sixth form for boys aged 11 to 19 in Wimbledon, London. The college was founded in 1892 "for improvement in living and learning for the greate ...

.St Joseph Roehampton
retrieved 5 February 2014 In 1948, the Jesuits left Manresa House and moved their novitiate to

Harlaxton Manor Harlaxton Manor is a Victorian country house in Harlaxton, Lincolnshire, England. The house was built for Gregory Gregory, a local squire and businessman. Gregory employed two of the leading architects of Victorian England, Anthony Salvin and ...

. They also handed the administration of the church over to the

Diocese of Southwark The Diocese of Southwark ( ) is one of the 42 dioceses of the Church of England, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The diocese forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. It was created on 1 May 1905 from part of the ancient ...

who continue to serve the parish. In 1958, the church was extended and in 1998 it was re-ordered.

Parish

The church has four Sunday Masses every week. They are at 6:00pm on Saturday evening, 9:00am and 11:00am on Sunday morning and 6:00pm on Sunday evening. There are weekday Masses at 10:00am on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday and 8:00am on Friday. Within the parish is the Sacred Heart Primary School, established by the

Society of the Sacred Heart The Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (; ), abbreviated RSCJ, is a Catholic centralized religious institute of consecrated life of pontifical right for women established in France by Madeleine Sophie Barat in 1800. History Madeleine Soph ...

.Sacred Heart Roehampton
retrieved 16 March 2014

References

External links

St Joseph Roehampton Parish site

Sacred Heart Catholic School site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roehampton, Saint Joseph 1881 establishments in England Frederick Walters buildings Gothic Revival church buildings in London

Saint Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...

Roman Catholic churches in the London Borough of Wandsworth Roman Catholic churches completed in 1881 Churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom

History

Parish

See also

References

External links