PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES
The history of the Roman Catholic Church in Plymouth falls into two distinct eras. Before King Henry VIII's break with the church in Rome in the 1530s, every church or chapel in Plymouth held Roman Catholic services. Most of these churches often became parish churches but there were also some that remained chapels-of-ease. Details of these churches in the Plymouth area will be found in the Ancient Parish Churches section. During the 17th century the Roman Catholic faith, and the power of the Pope, were finally subdued although many landed families still continued to practice their faith in secret under pain of death. The people of Plymouth were strongly Protestant and supported the newly published English Prayer Book. But when the Royal Dockyard was being built at the end of the 17th century a great many Irish, Catholic labourers were employed on the work and later in the Dockyard so a Catholic Mission was set up to support those men. They did have a small chapel but nothing is known about it. This group of Catholics in Plymouth Dock steadily grew and a century later it a priest was appointed to look after their needs. He was Mr Thomas Flynn and he hired a room above the George Inn for his Chapel, the first entry in its register being dated November 20th 1793. In 1803 Mr Flynn was succeeded by l'Abbe Jean Louis Guilbert, an exile from the French Revolution. It was due to his efforts that the Chapel or Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist was erected in East Stonehouse and opened in 1807. The second, modern, era of Roman Catholic churches started, as far as Plymouth was concerned, in 1850 when the Roman Catholic Diocese of Plymouth was set up. They were prohibited by law from using the titles of any existing Church of England diocese. The new Diocese covered all of Cornwall, Devon and Dorset. The first Roman Catholic Bishop of Plymouth was a Yorkshireman by the name of Mr George Errington. In 1855 he was succeeded by Bishop William Vaughan and he is regarded as the founder of the Diocese. He served for a staggering 47 years and during that time created 13 male religious houses, 28 female ones, 4 orphanages, 27 elementary schools and 5 senior schools. It is hardly surprising that it was thanks to him that the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saint Mary and Saint Boniface was erected and dedicated in March 1856, followed by a fine new Bishop's House in September 1857. From 1859 the Admiralty provided a hulk, formerly "HMS Hotspur", later renamed the "Momouth", to act as a Roman Catholic Chapel for seamen aboard ships in the Hamoaze and Irish workmen in the Royal Dockyard. He quickly turned his attention to the issues of education and expansion. He invited the Sisters of Notre Dame to commence a school for girls in 1860 and in December of the following year consecrated the Church of Saint Michael and Saint Joseph at Mutton Cove. In March 1872 Bishop Vaughan dedicated the Church of the Holy Cross and Saint Teresa as a chapel for the Carmelite Convent in Gasking Street but just three years later they left the area and the buildings were taken over by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and turned into the Orphanage of Saint Teresa. The Roman Catholic Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer was consecrated in July 1902 and the Church of Saint Edward the Confessor in February 1911. The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes was dedicated at Plympton in 1932 and the Church of Saint Gregory the Great (later to become the Church of Saint Margaret Mary) was opened at Plymstock the following year. In November 1933 the Church of Saint Paul at Saint Budeaux was consecrated. The first Church of Saint Peter was opened at Crownhill in December 1937. It was replaced by a new building after the Second World War. During the period of reconstruction of Plymouth after the Second World War several new housing estates were constructed. At Efford the Church of Saint Teresa was built in 1958 while at Beacon Park, where a congregation had first met in 1939, they finally completed the Church of the Holy Family in 1961. Plymothians who worked or lived in the City Centre were catered for by the opening of the Church of Christ the King in September 1962. Back out on the housing estates, the Church of Saint Thomas More was opened at Southway in March 1964 and also in that year the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was built at Efford. At Estover, an even newer housing estate, an Ecumenical Church was built for all denominations. Finally, the second-oldest Roman Catholic Church in the City, the Church of Saint Michael and Saint Joseph, at Mutton Cove was demolished in 1984 to be replaced by a brand new building, the Church of Saint Joseph, in another part of the district.
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