St. Mary's Redemptorist Roman Catholic Church, Clapham

In 1847 a group of French Nuns moved into St Anne's House in North Street, Clapham Old Town, and opened a small school. Within a year members of the Redemptorist Congregation, which had two small communities in Cornwall and the Midlands, were invited by Bishop Wiseman to open a house in Clapham with a view to establish a parish. For some months the small Redemptorist team lodged with the nuns, unt

il, with the help of a London bookseller, Mr Philips, they purchased a large house and some land at the top of Acre Lane [a road eventually renamed Clapham Park Road]. This substantial property formed part of a larger building. The foundation stone of a new church of St Mary's was laid in 1849. The church was designed in a Gothic style by William Wardell and was solemnly opened and blessed by Cardinal Wiseman on May 14th 1851 during a service beginning at 5.30! In 1895 a new monastery was built, and a transept extension added to the church. This was the work of the distinguished parishioner and architect, John Bentley. A thousand people attended the midnight Mass to celebrate the passing of the 19th century into the 20th. This was a grand total, but the area of the parish began to shrink with the opening of a series of new parishes: Larkhall Lane, Clapham Park and Altenburgh Gardens. The French nuns of Clapham Old Town had started Catholic Education with a fee-paying school. When they left, after a few years, Catholic education developed rapidly, and this included educating the poor. This became possible when the Redemptorists introduced into the parish the Sisters of Notre Dame. By word and example St Alphonsus, the holy founder of the Congregation, had urged his spiritual sons to show a love for the poor. Even the early Fathers were conscious of this, and despite their weak financial position, they set about ministering to the many poor in Clapham. With the help of nuns, they not only provided free education for poor children, within two years they had also established the Society of St Vincent de Paul. The Second World War brought more years of darkness and uncertainty. Located around the common were many small factories producing vital parts for the war effort, and the Common itself was taken over by anti-aircraft guns and barrage balloons. One 'rogue' balloon broke from its moorings and the lose wires brought down the top of St Mary's steeple. Fr Leo Kirk urged the authorities to restore the spire immediately. Throughout the years of bombing, the church and monastery suffered only slight damage, unlike some of the streets near St Mary's that were devastate. So, today, even though the spire was repaired it is beginning to crumble once again and as a community the church needs its parishioners’ to help restore the spire to its former glory.