| Description | In March,1938, that Colonel Hewes-Hallett offered Mrs Elsie Warner, a devout Catholic living in Much Hadham, the use of a large room over the stable block at the 'Lordship' as a Mass centre, allowing the Catholic Mass to be celebrated in Much Hadham village for the first time since the Reformation.
In 1955, Ash Meadow was purchased by the Diocese of Westminster and, with funds raised from the village Catholic community, Mrs Warner converted the existing World War II Land Army girls' hostel on the site into a chapel (with the help of seminarians from nearby St Edmund's, Ware) which opened for Mass in November that year. It would continue to serve the local Catholic population for another 27 years.
In the late 1970s, some of the land belonging to the chapel was sold to the East Hertfordshire District Council for council housing development, and the money put towards establishing a local Health Centre, open to all. Around this time, it became clear that the original hostel building housing the chapel was at the end of its structural life. A proposal was therefore made by Patrick Dolan, Chairman of the Holy Cross Parish Council, to develop a second housing project in partnership with contractors Rialto - comprising a mix of private and local authority housing - on the field at Ash Meadow. The money realised from this project would be put towards the building of a new church of the Holy Cross in the Spring of 1982.
The Anglican Rector of Much Hadham, Michael MacAdam, extended an offer to the Catholics (homeless now that the hostel church had been demolished and pending completion of their new building) to say their Mass at St. Andrew's Church during this period. Sharing began on June 6, 1982. On November 5, 1982, Canon MacAdam urged that a way be found to make the sharing a legally binding, equal and permanent relationship. Canon MacAdam's offer was accepted and construction of the Catholic church was suspended. Both congregations voted for a permanent sharing through joint ownership, and a formal Agreement to this effect was signed in 1984. |