PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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The first gatherings of Roman Catholic worshippers in the Plymouth area took place in a loft behind the Prince George Inn in Fore Street, Plymouth Dock, under the supervision of Father Thomas Flynn. Father Flynn attended two of the sailors who were shot on Plymouth Hoe in 1797. When his successor, l'Abbe Jean Louis Guilbert, was appointed in 1803, he set about builidng a permanent Chapel. This he acheived largely through the generousity of a Mr Rowland Conyers, who had set up a trust to assist the South West's seamen. Conyers purchased the site to the south of the East Stonehouse Union Workhouse and north of Union Place and the Roman Catholic Chapel of St Mary was opened on Sunday December 20th 1807. Its full dedication was to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist. In 1838 Father Henry Riley made extensions to the Chapel and also acquired an adjoining building on the south side for use as a school. When the Bishop's House at the newly built Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Mary and St Boniface was first occupied in 1857, the teachers of the schools at St Mary's and at Devonport moved to St Mary's Chapel, where the body of the builidng was turned into a boys' school under Mr Keane and Mr Abernethy, and the galleries were transfomred into a girls' school under the supervision of Miss King and Miss Pryor. It was then remodelled and given over to the Little Sisters of the Poor until they moved to the St Joseph's Home at Tor Lane, Hartley, in 1884, after which it was put to other uses and known as Regent Buildings. They were demolished in 1960.
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