| Description | There has been a chapel dedicated to St Michael in Ashford since the 13th century. Until the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century, the chapel came under the parish of Staines. In 1796 the chapel was pulled down and rebuilt. In 1858 the present (Anglican) St. Matthew’s Church was built 15 yards to the North West of the old chapel.
In 1899, Cardinal Vaughan asked the Order of the Good Shepherd to open a house for inebriate Catholic women in the property known as “Ecclesfield”, (St Michaels’ School now stands on part of this site). The convent chapel was used for Mass for the few Ashford Catholics, offered by a priest from Beaumont College (Old Windsor). Later that year, Cardinal Vaughan appointed Fr Brown as Chaplain. In October 1904, Fr Brown was replaced by Fr. Daniel. He in turn was succeeded by Fr Martin Cave, who was appointed in 1906 with the brief to build a church for the ever growing congregation. Fr Cave managed to buy a site in the Feltham Road, and built a new church, which was opened in December 1906 by the Archbishop of Westminster and dedicated to St Michael.
In 1917, Fr Arthur Morgan, took over from Fr Cave. He was in turn replaced by Fr Edwin Owen in 1924. The following year, Fr. Owen announced that the debt on the church in Feltham Road had been paid off and, with the consent of the Cardinal, he had contracted a new debt of £2,000 with which he had purchased a house and a site for a new church in Fordbridge Road. The architect for the new church was Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, whose drawings of St. Michael were exhibited at the Royal Academy. Cardinal Bourne laid the foundation stone for the new church in 1927.
In July 1928, the new church was opened for services, even though it was not yet completed. It consisted of the chancel, three bays of the nave and sacristies. Work began in 1938 to extend the nave but came to a halt on the outbreak of War in 1939. Fr Owen died in 1944 and was replaced by Fr Patrick O'Callaghan. Fr Patrick applied to the Cardinal for permission to repair the roof of the church, and the Cardinal sanctioned him to complete the church building. He later officiated at High Mass at St Michael's to mark its completion in 1960.
In 1968, the old church building in Feltham Road, which had become the church hall, was sold and subsequently demolished. A new church hall and presbytery was built on Fordbridge Road/Clarendon Road site. Fr. O’Callaghan died in 1970 and Fr. Anthony Cooke was appointed Parish Priest. Fr Anthony transferred to Paddington in 1975 and Fr Ronald Aylward became parish priest. Fr Ronald retired after serving the parish for 25 years. Fr James Brand and later Fr Timothy Dean served briefly as parish priests, before Mgr James Overton was appointed in 2002. He served as parish priest for 17 years before retiring in 2019. He was succeeded by Fr Sidon Sagar FDP with Fr Carlo Mazzotta FDP as Assistant Priest.
In 2006, the church was reordered thanks to a legacy of £328,000 from a parishioner, Derek Frederick Stephens. During the parish's First Centenary Year, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor dedicated the church and the new altar. In 2016 the church, boundary wall and entrance screen of St Michael's were listed as a Building of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, Grade II. |