Parish History
An
Article in Ave
The early history of our parish is closely intertwined
with the life and witness of Fr. John Going and the parish of St Paul, Lorrimore
Square. Much of this article, relate to the period before St Agnes was established as a separate parish. The
main source for the article is Fr. Marcus Donovan's booklet "A
history of St Paul's, Lorrimore Square and St Agnes', Kennington."
The Church of St Paul, Lorrimore Square was consecrated on
Christmas Eve 1856 by the Lord Bishop of London. In 1860 Fr. John Going became
the incumbent and immediately set about fund-raising, establishing schools and
introducing more ornate ritual to the Church. Fr Going was clearly a remarkable
man, he was one of a generation of priests who were fired by the Catholic
revival in the Church of England and was able to put into practice, at parochial
level, the ideals of the early Tractarian movement and, as Fr. Donovan says,
"he bridged the gap between the somewhat academic Tractarian epoch and the
modern Anglo-Catholic practice".
 St Paul's continued to develop rapidly throughout the
1860's. In 1868 there were 150 confirmation candidates and about 1,000 people
attended Sunday Evensong regularly. By 1869 "High Mass" at 11am had
displaced Matins as the main Sunday service and St Paul's was truly a thriving
Catholic parish. However, the work of a busy parish took its toll on Fr. Going
and by 1874 his health was suffering. With wise foresight he arranged for the
southern portion of his parish to be cut off and placed under the charge of a
vigorous young priest, Thomas Birkett Dover who had already made his mark as a
curate at St John the Divine, Vassal Road.
Fr. Dover began the task of building-up a new parish. A
temporary church was opened in the form of a shed previously used by the Vitriol
works that had stood on the site. Mr Gilbert Scott was employed to convert and
beautify the shed and to draw-up plans for a large new church to accommodate
Catholic worship and ceremony. Lord Halifax (then the Hon C.L. Wood) laid the
first stone and the Bishop of Bombay dedicated the building.
The present stone altar top was used for the first mass in
the temporary church on July 8th 1874. The preacher on that occasion was Dr
Temple West, Vicar of the parish of St Mary Magdalene's, Paddington. The
sacristan was W.H. Bleaden who himself was later ordained and became the second
Vicar of that famous parish. Dr William Maclagan, Vicar of St Mary, Newington
(later Archbishop of York) preached at the evening service and was taken to task
the next day by the "Pall Mall Gazette" for assisting at a church
"where he wore a white stole and where a hymn was sung in which the name of
Mary occurred." St Agnes had made its mark on day one of its existence!
Fr. Dover brought many leading churchmen to his new
parish. Bishop King of Lincoln was a frequent visitor and preacher. Canon
Brooke, Vicar of St John the Divine, Kennington, was a lifelong friend of Fr.
Dover and was a generous benefactor to St Agnes'. Fr. Dover was able to raise
money from many of his own friends and family for work on the new Church of St
Agnes.
On 8th July 1875 the foundation stone of the permanent
church was laid by Mr JA Shaw Stewart, one of the trustees of the Parish. The
other trustees at the time were Bishop (then Canon) King, Canon Liddon (of St
Paul's Cathedral), Canon Brooke and the most prominent Anglo-Catholic layman of
the time, Lord Halifax.
In 1876 the Church schools were built and the foundation
stone of the Vicarage was laid by Canon Gregory who was later to become the Dean
of St Paul's Cathedral.
On January 20th 1877 the Bishop of London, Dr Jackson, in
whose Diocese the Church then was, came to consecrate the new Church. He had
been subject to a great deal of pressure to refuse to consecrate the building
and demanded that a representation of Our Lady wearing a crown be removed from
the great east window. Riots were expected at the consecration, the violent
disturbances at Hatcham involving the famous Fr. Tooth were fresh in everyone's
mind and so the doors were barricaded during the service and 50 police
constables were nearby in case of trouble.
The architect was George Gilbert Scott and St Agnes' was
regarded as his masterpiece. Internally the Church was 140 feet long, 63 feet
wide and 65 feet high. It could seat 1,000 persons. Most of the internal
decoration and all of the glass was by Charles Eamer Kempe.
The Church immediately began to attract visitors. The Dean
of Westminster, Dr Stanley, was in the congregation on the first Sunday after
the opening. The Church was of Cathedral proportions (the height of the roof
exceeded that of eleven Cathedrals!) and was greatly admired.
From the outset, St Agnes was conceived by Fr. Going as a
possible refuge for his own parishioners in the event of Catholic worship being
suppressed at St Paul's, Lorrimore Square. These were difficult times. Priests
had gone to prison for wearing vestments and riots had taken place at St James',
Hatcham where there were frequent protests against the Catholic teaching and
practice. Fr. Going knew that his work at St Paul's could be undone when he left
there. Most Bishops (then, as now!) were not in sympathy with the ideals of the
Catholic movement working through the people in the pews.
The immediate concern was alleviated when in 1878 Fr.
Going was able to exchange his living with Fr. WP Cay-Adams the Vicar of
Hawkchurch, Dorset. However, in November 1880 Fr. Cay-Adams was taken ill and
died. He was buried at Hawkchurch by Fr. Going.
A meeting of the congregation of St Paul's was called and
a carefully written request was sent to the Bishop of Rochester. The Bishop of
Rochester was the patron of the living of S Paul's and was therefore in a
position to choose the next Vicar. They requested that he send a Vicar who would
sympathise with the type of (Catholic) teaching that had existed at St Paul's
for over 20 years.
The Bishop of Rochester was particularly hostile to
Catholics within the Church of England and he decided that he must speak
directly to the people of St Paul's and so, on Advent Sunday 1880, Bishop
Thorald preached at Evensong. He took the opportunity to announce the name of
the new Vicar and said "whatever is illegal in the ritual of this church
will have to be discontinued." At that time and in that place those words
had a potent meaning. Several prosecutions of Clergy had resulted in prison
sentences under the thoroughly unpopular Public Worship Regulation Act. The
congregation audibly groaned in disapproval of what the Bishop was saying but he
still went on to assert his authority and to make it very clear that he would
use his power as Ordinary and Patron to suppress the ritual. The Bishop was
escorted quickly form the Church after the blessing to the security of the
Vicarage. The Bishop's carriage was sent for but by now part of the angry
congregation had assembled outside to express their displeasure. The Bishop
demanded to see the Churchwardens but they refused to leave the Church where
they were doing their best to calm the many angry Parishioners. The crowd
outside became violent and stones were thrown at the Bishop's carriage as he
drove away.
The following Friday a letter was received from the old
Vicar of St Paul's, Fr. Going. In the letter he begged the people of St Paul's
to make no further trouble but to go in one body to St Agnes'. On Sunday
December 5th 1880, the Second of Advent, the whole congregation of St Paul's
were at St Agnes'. There were no services at St Paul's because the Churchwardens
refused to be responsible for any riot that might take place, at 11am a mob from
Deptford arrived but finding nothing going on they dispersed. The following
Sunday only five people attended the first service taken by the new Vicar of St
Paul's. The Bishop had succeeded in suppressing ritual at St Paul's but at
considerable cost. These events further strengthened the position of St Agnes' as
a focus for Catholic worship.
to be continued.....
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