| Description | Our Lady of Sorrows was founded by the Oblates of St Charles in 1912 as a special mission out of their Bayswater parish "to help the poor and degraded population" of the area. The first Mass was given in the parish around 1902, from the school next to which the church was built. The architect for the church was Ernest Henry Major of Tasker, Williams & Major, and the contractor was E H Roome. In 1916, the building was extended upwards, when the roof was removed and a school hall built above it. The church was reopened on 14 April 1916. The Sanctuary walls and ceiling were timber panelled, while over the Tabernacle was a painting of the Holy Eucharist with adoring angels. The dark blue reredos had an oil painting of Our Lady of Sorrows. In December 1966, a fire damaged the Sanctuary and the Lady Chapel. As part of the refurbishment, the Sanctuary was reordered and the church reopened with new furnishings on 25 December 1967.
The parish was bounded by the Great Western railway line from Paddington and the Grand Junction Canal which forms a loop between the Lock Brtidge and the Harrow Road Bridge at Little Venice. The parish now comprises the Warwick Estate, a high rise housing estate run by Westminster City Council. It remained in the care of the Oblates of St Charles until 1970, when it passed into the care of the Archdiocese. The church forms part of the North Kensington Deanery and was consecrated in 1998. The church is also home to a Maronite community, reflected in the statues of St Anthony and St Sharbel in the north west corner of the church. |