| Description | The church was opened in Kingsland in 1854.
Mr. Thomas Kelly, an Irish builder, who owned 83 Culford Road, offered the first floor of his house as a chapel and free and free board for a priest. This offer was accepted and the very first Mass was said in a room in Mr. Kelly's house by Dr. Henry Manning, with about six people present.
Dr. Manning recommended Father William Lockhart to Cardinal Wiseman as the first parish priest and the Institute of Charity was persuaded to start a mission in Kingsland. Father Lockhart moved into 83 Culford Road. The back parlour of this house served as the sanctuary of the chapel and the drawing room in front formed the body of the chapel. The first public Mass was said at Easter in 1854.
The following year a storage shed behind his house (also owned by Mr. Kelly) was converted into a chapel and this converted shed housed a regular congregation. At the same time, the first primary school was started, by curtaining off a part of this church building for use during the week.
By July 1856 an adjoining, recently built paper-dyeing factory, had been acquired and the upper floor converted into a church by William Wilkinson Wardell. The ground floor became the school. Cardinal Wiseman opened this building on 29th September 1856. The church was again extensively remodelled by E.W. Pugin and was reopened on 24th February 1860. This church remained in use, substantially unaltered, for the next 100 years. |