| Description | 1879 to 1901 saw a rapid development of the Willesden area from open countryside to London suburb. At first it was thought that the needs of Catholics in the area could be met by priests based at the existing parish of Our Lady of Willesden. In August 1901, Fr George Cologan, Rector of Our Lady of Willesden, held what was probably the first Mass in Willesden Green, in a non-Catholic school at No 30 Chapter Road (now St Paul's Avenue). The schoolroom soon proved too small and in 1902 the Mass Centre was moved to 59 Chapter Road (now Andrew House, 59 St Paul's Avenue). It was named St Catherine's and designated a Mission in 1903, the year Cardinal Bourne decided that the growing numbers of Catholics in the area of Willesden Green justified it becoming a separate parish.
The Willesden Green Mission was entrusted to the Diocesan Missionaries of Our Lady of Compassion (which later became the Catholic Missionary Society), and they took over St Catherine's in 1904. St Catherine's quickly became too small to deal with the growing number of parishioners, so with the support of the Sisters of Jesus and Mary based in Crownhill Road, a larger property was rented at 28, Park Avenue. Rooms were converted into a chapel on the ground floor and a school on the upper floor, and the first Mass was said there on Rosary Sunday, 1 October 1905 by the first resident priest, Dr Herbert Vaughan, nephew of Cardinal Vaughan. This is deemed to be the date on which the parish of Willesden Green was officially founded,
In January 1906, the Diocese sanctioned the purchase of a site for a church in Linacre Road, which was duly opened in July that year and dedicated to Our Lady of Compassion. The school set up at 28 Park Avenue expanded into larger premises and a new Convent for the Sisters of Jesus and Mary was opened in 1915.
One of the key activities for the parish was its mission to non-Catholics, and in 1910 Dr Vaughan opened a base for the missionaries at 1A Brondesbury Park, which became know as Mission House. The missionaries were sent to preach across England and set up a series of new parishes, beginning with Royston and Swaffham. Mission House became a hospital for the war wounded in 1915., but the Catholic Missionary Society continued there even after 1933, when ill health forced Dr Vaughan to resigning all functions in the CMS and the Diocese assumed responsibility for the parish. Mission House was destroyed by a landmine in 1940.
The number of parishioners in Willesden Green continued to rise and the parish applied for permission to build a new church in 1938, and the last Mass at Linacre Road was celebrated in May 1939. On 9 May 1939, the new church, still dedicated to Our Lady of Compassion, was opened by Cardinal Hinsley. A substantial part of the debt created by the construction of the new church, and later a new presbytery, was offset by a bequest from Mrs Eliza Ainsworth Eyre and a donation by her daughter, Edith. However, the bequest carried an obligation to change the dedication of the church from Our Lady of Compassion to St Mary Magdalen. The debt was finally cleared in 1958, and the church consecrated. During the 1970s, Fr Joe Eldridge and Fr Charles Mercer embellished the appearance and fabric of the church, details of which are included in a short history of 'St Mary Magdalen, Willesden Green 1901-1988' by Eric Brentini, included in the archive collection. |