| Description | St Monica's Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Hoxton, Hackney, London. In August 1864, Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman invited the Order of Saint Augustine to start in a mission for the local Catholic community. 18 Hoxton Square was bought by Charles Walker for £1609 as a site for the building of a church. On 20 September 1864, the foundation stone of the church was laid by the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Westminster, Edward Hearn. The church was designed by E. W. Pugin and built by Mr Oxborn of Clapton. In late March 1865, a concert was held in the sanctuary and part of the nave of the incomplete church. On 4 May 1865 the church was formally opened by the Bishop of Southwark Thomas Grant, with the sermon given by Henry Edward Manning, who would become Archbishop of Westminster the following month. After its opening, the church was extended, and a priory was built next door for the Augustinian friars. 4 May 1866, the feast of St Monica, is regarded as the foundation date of the church. Further developments to the church included a reredos by Franz Mayer of Munich, installed in 1875, and a lady chapel, designed by John Young, was added to the church in 1880. From 1903, the Augustinian friars based at Hoxton started going out to Hammersmith to serve the Catholic community there, eventually building St Augustine's Church, Hammersmith in 1916.
In 1907, the school next to St Monica's Church was demolished and replaced with a new one that was opened on 4 July 1908 by the Archbishop of Westminster Francis Bourne |