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Summary

Grade II listed chapel built in 1848 for the Roman Catholic Diocesan College of St Mary's, the forerunner to Douai Abbey and school, and since 1999 a Catholic parish church

Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1482847: Roman Catholic Church of St Mary

Monument Type(s):

• ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPEL (19th century - 1833 AD (pre) to 1833 AD? (pre))
• ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPEL (Victorian - 1848 AD to 1848 AD)
• COLLEGIATE CHAPEL (Mid 20th century to Late 20th century - Present - 1933 AD to 1999 AD)

Full Description

The Grade II listed Church of St Mary in Upper Woolhampton was built for a Roman Catholic college. There have been several Catholic places of worship in Woolhampton. The local land-owning families were Catholic, and had given land and a number of cottages (including one converted to a chapel) at a place called Woolhampton Lodge to their chaplain. This chapel was apparently registered in 1792 but became dilapidated and was replaced in 1832 or 1833; Gray's early 19th century history of the Newbury area records that near the church (ie St Peter's in Woolhampton) 'is a very neat Roman catholic chapel' <1>. A school was established at this mission in 1838 (later known as St Mary's College) and the chapel seems to have quickly become too small for the local congregation and the pupils, so another church was built in 1848, the present Roman Catholic church of St Mary. The 1830s building was turned into a refectory but was demolished in the late 19th century when a new refectory was built. Its site is presumed to have been perhaps 60m south of the 1848 building.

The First Edition Ordnance Survey mapping of 1880 <2> marks a building still called 'Woolhampton Lodge' at a junction of roads on high ground north of Woolhampton Park. Attached to Woolhampton lodge is a long block named St Mary's College, with a playground to one side, and the chapel at right angles on its northern end. There is a Graveyard on its north side. The Second Epoch OS of 1899 <8> shows the expansion of St Mary's College with new buildings forming a more regular three sided quadrangle, still with St Mary's Church at the northern end. A history of Douai Abbey <5> explains the further changes that occurred on the site when a monastic community and school fled from northern France in 1903 to take over St Mary's College and merge the two schools. St Mary's Church is stated to have been the only Catholic church in the district of Newbury until the end of the 19th century <5>. (However St Joseph's Church in Newbury is also said to have been established in the 19th century, with a building erected on the London Road by 1864.)

The small gothic St Mary's continued as the church for Douai Abbey from 1903 until 1933 when a much larger building (the church of Our Lady and St Edmund) was built 130m to the north. It reverted to being a school chapel until the school closed in 1999.

The revised Pevsner guide of buildings in Berkshire <6> considered that St Mary's was probably intended as a model church and was by George Jonas Wigley. Further analysis of the church and its fabric and features was undertaken as part of the Taking Stock project <7>, an architectural and historical review of Catholic churches and chapels in England and Wales. This gave a detailed history of St Mary's, and noted that it appears to have been the only executed design by Wigley, described as a significant figure in 19th century Catholic life. Following assessment by Historic England in 2023 <9>, the Church of St Mary was listed at Grade II for its architectural and historic interest as well as group value <10>. It was described as a good quality mid-19th century Catholic Church with a tall and impactful west front, retaining its structural form along with elements of the reredos and good quality stained glass. The association with Wigley as an important and influential figure was noted, and the church also has a functional and visual association with other listed buildings at the Douai Abbey site <10>.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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