| Description | Our Lady of Victories was founded in 1794 by Catholic clergy who had fled the French Revolution in 1789. A chapel and school were established at Kensington House by the Abbe de Broglie, near the site of Albert Hall. By the time of Abbe de Broglie's death in 1806, it was clear that a larger chapel was needed to cope with the growing congregation, and funds were raised by local Catholics to build a new chapel in Holland Street, which opened in 1813. Following the restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy in 1850, the Holland Street chapel became a parish church within the Diocese. By 1860, the Holland Street chapel had in turn proved too small to accomodate an ever-increasing congregation.
In 1866, the parish priest, Fr James Foley, purchased a site then known as Newlands Terrace near the junction of Earl's Court Road and Kensington High Street. The architect George Goldie, of Goldie and Child, was commissioned to design the church, which was built in 13th century French Gothic style. In 1868, Archbishop Henry Manning elevated the status of the church to that of Pro-Cathedral. The completed church, built by Samuel Simpson, was opened on the 2 July 1869, although it was not consecrated until 1901 when the building debt was finally cleared. By this stage, work had already begun on building Westminster Cathedral at Victoria, which opened its doors in 1903, relegating Our Lady of Victories to a parish church.
Fr Foley remained as Administrator until his retirement in 1879. His successors were all subsequently referrred to as Administrators of the Pro-Cathedral, although Our Lady of Victories remained the parish church of Kensington. Mgr Rouse, who took over from Fr Foley in 1879, established the Kensington Catholic Magazine, a monthly parish magazine which continued until 1930, when its name was changed to the Kensington Catholic Kalendar. Canon Carey became Rector in 1921 and it was he who received the author G K Chesterton into the Catholic Church when he made his first Holy Communion at Our Lady of Victories in 1922. In 1930, Fr James Walton became Rector at Our Lady of Victories and set about buying property in nearby Abingdon Road to build a large Presbytery, designed by Joseph Goldie of Edward Goldie and Son, successor of George Goldie who had designed the original church. He also bought up the shops in Kensington High Street which restricted access to the church. Joseph Goldie then rebuilt the whole frontage to reduce the number of shops and create a Gothic arch in between to allow better access to the church.
Fr James Walton also undertook major renovation works to the church itself and these were completed in 1939, just before the outbreak of the Second World War. In the early hours of 13 September 1940, Our Lady of Victories was struck by two oil bombs which gutted the church. The Carmelite church on Kensington Church Street was also destroyed, in the same air raid. As a result, Sunday Mass was celebrated initially at the Odeon Cinema and then at the Cavendish Furnishing Company on Kensington High Street (later a Safeways supermarket). The temporary church was therefore nicknamed 'St Cavendish''. Services here continued until November 1942 when they were transferred to the Parish Hall at the back of the bombed church, and to the chapel at the Convent of the Assumption in Kensington Square.
In 1952, Mgr Canon John Bagshawe was appointed parish priest and tasked by Cardinal Griffin with the rebuilidng of Our Lady of Victories. Adrian Gilbert Scott was commissioned to design the new church on the old site. During building work, Mgr Bagshawe held services in the disused Congregational Chapel in Allen Street. The new church was built between 1955 and 1958 by Holliday and Greenwood Ltd. and officially opened in April 1959 by Cardinal Godfrey. In 1966, Cardinal Heenan decided to divide the parish of Our Lady of Victories in two, making the Carmelite Church in Kensington High Street a parish church. In 1971, the new church of Our Lady of Victories was consecrated by Derek Worlock, then Bishop of Portsmouth, who had been a curate at Our Lady of Victories during the Second World War. By then Mgr Bagshawe had been replaced by Mgr Maurice Kelleher who added the Sacristy, additional parish rooms and a flat for the Sacristan, built to designs by the architects Archard and Partners. |