Sacred Heart Church, Caterham

Sacred Heart Church
Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Caterham
Church entrance
Sacred Heart Church Location in Surrey
51°17′15″N 0°05′12″W
OS grid reference	TQ 33484 56029
Location	Caterham, Surrey
Country	England
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	CaterhamCatholic.co.uk
History
Status	Active
Founded	24 August 1879 (1879-08-24)
Founder(s)	Fr Francis Roe
Dedication	Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Architecture
Functional status	Parish church
Heritage designation	Grade II listed
Designated	19 November 1984
Architect(s)	Edward Ingress Bell
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	24 June 1880
Completed	11 August 1881
Construction cost	£5,000
Administration
Province	Southwark
Diocese	Arundel and Brighton
Deanery	Redhill

Sacred Heart Church or formally the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a Roman Catholic parish church in Caterham, Surrey, England designed by Ingress Bell and built in 1881. It is situated between Essendene Road and Whyteleafe Road off the High Street. The building is Grade II listed.

Construction

In 1879, after a request from Francis Parson, a local Catholic, the Bishop of Southwark, James Danell, sent Fr Francis Roe to Caterham to serve as priest there. Hs first Mass was on 24 August 1879 in a local depot, where army officers built a temporary chapel. Before this, a priest from Croydon travelled to Caterham to celebrate Mass for soldiers and local Catholics.

On 24 June 1880, the foundation stone of the church was laid by Bishop Danell. Most of the construction was paid for by Fr Roe's father, Captain William Harriott Roe. The architect for the church was Ingress Bell, who also designed St Joseph Church in Guildford (demolished in the 1980s) in 1881. He adopted the Early English Gothic Revival style and a cruciform plan.

On 11 August 1881 the church was opened. The first Mass was celebrated by the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Manning.

Interior

Joseph Aloysius Pippet designed murals which illustrate the life of Jesus; they were painted around the apse, and windows built, by Hardman & Co.; the central apse window dates from 1881 and the murals and other windows from 1889. In 1907 it was stated that "[t]he sanctuary has been recently adorned with elegant mosaic pictures".

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  Church of the Sacred Heart
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  Chancel
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  South chapel
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  Angels in the Apse
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  Altar
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  Apse window

Parish

The parish covers the Catholic population of Caterham, Whyteleafe and Godstone. The church celebrates a Mass every day, and three on Sundays. Services are livestreamed and recorded. The Pippet murals were badly damaged by water ingress and attempts at repair; they were conserved and restored from 2015. The church is a member of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales.

See also

• List of places of worship in Tandridge (district)

Bibliography

• Kelly, Bernard W. (1907). Historical Notes on English Catholic Missions (PDF). London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
• Sladen, Teresa; Antram, Nicholas (11 November 2005). Architectural and Historic Review of Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton (PDF) (Report). English Heritage. Retrieved 28 April 2015.

External links

• Sacred Heart Church site