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THE CATHOLIC PARISH OF
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| HISTORY OF OUR PARISH |
| The Early History In tracing the 'life and times' of St. Edward's Parish we need to start with a look at the 'prehistory' of the Church in this country from the 18th century. In 1780 there were only 60,000 Catholics in England. However, from this time factors brought about a recovery: i) the Government began to remove the penalties enacted for practising Catholics and opened up the learned professions; ii) the French Revolution brought many thousands of refugees; iii) the many skilled workers from Ireland who came to the industrial North of England; iv) the Oxford movement led by John Keeble and John Henry Newman (who was later received into the Church and became Cardinal Newman). When the Hierarchy was restored in 1850 the Catholic population was around 3/4 million. A new era in the Church's history began with the election of Pope Leo XIII in 1878. He was well-informed and had made a thorough study of the times including that of 'Classic Liberalism' (which denies the right of the Church to be a system having views on the morality of public life). So now the eminently reasonable point of view advocated by Leo XIII brought new life into the Church, encouraging Catholics to enter public life and influence social matters. It advocated action instead of passivity. Later in 1903, more constructive, practical measures were introduced and the laity were urged to more frequent communion. The spiritual life of Catholics in England received a most welcome stimulus.  This brings us
to July 1908 when Father William Bendon arrived at a small suburb in London.
It's name was Golders Green! There were watercress beds at Henley's corner and
very few shops in Temple Fortune. Trams ran passed the site of the present
church between North Finchley and Golders Green. The arrival of Fr Bendon in Golders Green coincided with the development of the Hampstead Garden Suburb which was to be part of the Parish. Foundation of the Hampstead Garden Suburb Henrietta Barnett founded the Hampstead Garden Suburb in 1907. She and her husband, Canon Barnett, had been responsible for starting a series of charitable and educational institutions of which the best known are the Whitechapel Art Gallery and Toynbee Hall.  When the project for the building of the Hampstead Tube with a station on the west of Hampstead Heath became known, Henrietta Barnett's first thought was of the threatened "ruin of the sylvan restfulness of that portion of the most beautiful open space near London". The idea of the Garden Suburb grew out of the Heath Extension, for which the money was raised and the land handed over to the London County Council to be dedicated to the public as an open space forever.  Golders Green 1904 The plans were outlined by Henrietta Barnett in an article in the Contemporary Review of 1905. The intention of the company, which she formed in March 1906 with the help of influential friends, was not to be an ordinary land-owning company but to make a social experiment by providing for people of all classes a beautiful and healthy place to live in. The principal architects for the project were Sir Raymond Huwin and Edwin Lutyens. The broad lines of the scheme were: That persons of all classes of society and standards of income should be accommodated and that the handicapped be welcomed;Further details can be found on the Hampstead Garden Suburb website at www.hgs.org.uk.. The Beginnings of the Parish The Carmelite sisters had arrived from Isleworth and the Chapel in their Monastery in Bridge Lane was used as a Mass centre by local Catholics since the nearest Catholic Church was St Mary's East Finchley. (The parish of St Philips at Finchley was not founded until 1919). Fr Bendon resided at Heriot House, Golders Green Road and was Chaplain to the Carmelite Sisters. THe site for the Mission had already been acquired in July 1909 and on September 8th, Our Lady's birthday, the first sod of turf was cut and the building of the Presbytery commenced. The Mission of St Edward the Confessor was opened on Christmas Day 1909 when two Masses were said by Father Bendon, the First Parish Priest in what is now Fr Helm's office in the Presbytery, and 50 people were present. Mass was said on each Sunday at 8 and 10 after the first Christmas morning, and Fr Bendon moved into the new house on January 22nd 1910. It was soon evident that the temporary Chapel would be too small and many of the congregation heard Mass, weather permitting, on the grass outside the Presbytery, or even kneeling on the stairs leading up to the first floor of the house. The Universe" of the day describes the scene on 13 October 1910 as follows: "Few outlying missions in the north of London are more interesting than that now in course of development at Golders Green where Father Bendon is so successfully and zealously fostering the ultimate establishment of a thriving Catholic Church in a neighbourhood that hitherto has been destitute of Catholic privileges. At present, the services are carried out in a room adjoining the modest Presbytery in Finchley Road, and here it was that last week, the feast of St Edward the Confessor, the patron Saint of the new church, was solemnised. The tiny sanctuary hardly lends itself to big functions, yet it is beautifully kept and was most exquisitely decorated for the occasion, and the High Mass on Thursday was faithfully and reverently performed in spite of the many drawbacks imposed by lack of space". October 1910. St Edwards Hall A larger building was soon decided upon, and St Edward's Hall was built in 1911 to accommodate 300 people at a cost of £1,000. The building was opened as the second Chapel on Whit-Sunday, June 4th 1911 and used as the temporary Church until the present Church was completed by Fr Bendon's father who was a master builder and architect. The foundation stone for the new Church was laid by Cardinal Bourne on 25 March 1914, and the building of the Church took place during the years of the first world war. The Sanctuary was where the club room is now, and the sacristy and choir were at the back of the Hall where the present stage is located. The entrance was from Hoop Lane. The times of the Masses on Sundays were 8.00, 10.00 and 11.00 am with Benediction at 5.00 pm. 
St Edwards c. 1918 The Mission was fortunate in having only a very small debt, only £395 left on the hall representing its liabilities after a floral Bazaaar held in the previous May. When this debt was cleared in November 1912 the late Father Bendon promised to start the new Church when the sum of £2,000 was in the Bank. This was achieved towards the end of 1913, and Fr Bendon, who had been occupied for three years on the plans, commenced the new Church on March 25th 1914, the Feast of the Annunciation, when His Eminence the late Cardinal Bourne laid the foundation stone . The First World war was declared on August 4th 1914, and the building of the Church was carried on under the greatest difficulties and with unavoidable delays. Nothing but the goodwill and courage of the contractors, urged on by Fr Bendon enabled its completion. The first date for the opening, September 8th 1915, the night of the first Zeppelin raid over Golder's Green, had to be changed, and the Church was eventually opened on the Feast of St Edward the Confessor, October 13th, by the late Cardinal Bourne, after the first Mass had been sad privately by the late Father Bendon. Its cost to the congregation was £10,000. Cardinal Bourne speaking at the end of the High Mass on the opening day, congratulated the late Fr. Bendon, the architect and all the others who had been associated with the raising of the splendid Church. He spoke of the late Fr. Bendon's courage and zeal in achieving his work in spite of uncertain health, and exhorted the congregation to assist loyally in meeting the interest on the debt which rested on the Mission and lessen the debt as rapidly as possible. The sermons on the opening day were reached by Fr. Donnelly in the morning and Fr Vincent McNabb in the evening during an air raid Architecture had been one of the late Fr. Bendon's studies, and n devoting himself to this work he sought to attain those aspirations which a Church should embody - beauty, strength, an atmosphere of worship, an the idealism of its sacred purpose. The style of architecture of the building is perpendicular Gothic, and the ideal has been the old pre-reformation Parish Church. The late Fr. Bendon found a kindred spirit in Mr Author Young, the architect, and the result to be seen in the completed building is one that has already created more than a mere passing impression. Even those who confess to no particular architectural taste were conscious of some compelling attraction which led them to take more than a cursory glance at the new building, and man visitors, including a large number of ministers of other communions inspected the building with evident interest and pleasure Among those who have preached in the Church we welcome the names of His Eminence, Francs Cardinal Bourne; His Lordship Bishop Butt; the late Right Rev. Dr Keating, Bishop of Northampton; Bishop Fallon of the Canadian Army; the late Right Rev. Monsignor Coke Robinson; the late Father Bernard Vaughn, S.J; late Father Bead Jarrett, O.P.; Father Brampton, S.J; Father G. Nicholson, C.SS.R. and Father Morgan, S.J. His Grace Archbishop Hinsley. One notable feature in the Church's history was the Feast of St. Edward 1917, when the Lord Mayor of London Sir William Dunn, the Mayor of Hampstead Earnest O'Brien Esq., attended the High Mass in state, and His Eminence the Cardinal preached his famous sermon on the Pope and the War, and alluded to the mis-statements made by the English Press either wilfully or in ignorance, with regard to the actions of the Holy Father. The Parish will always be greatly indebted to Fr Bendon who suffered considerably from ill health during his time as Rector of the Parish and spent the latter years of this life in a wheelhair. His hair was red, his complexion fresh and highly coloured. He had a heart condition and was destined to die young, but in the short time allotted to him he accomplished much. Although an invalid he radiated dynamic energy and zeal. He used to lie on a couch in a room with french windows (now Fr Helm's dining room). Fr Bendon was assisted by Fr Louis Hemy who was a small, fair haired person, very charming and kind. He spent all the seven years of his priesthood at St Edward's and tragically died at the age of 33 in the 1918 flu epidemic. The stained glass window dedicated to St Louis and St Joseph is in memory of Fr. Hemy. Fr. Bendon, died on December 20th 1920, and was buried in a special grave outside the church, over which was placed an inscribed stone, erected by the parishioners. A brass tablet, close by St Edwards Shrine, also erected by the parishioners, telling of his place of burial and stating that the beautiful stone aAltar and magnificent reredoshad been erected in memory of him. This work had been initiated by the late Rev. Ambrose O.Gorman,D.D., who succeeded Fr. Bendon as rector. Although bombs fell all around, St Edwards was spared any destruction during the second world war. The memorial window over the High Altar was installed by Canon Thornton and the Parishoners in thanksgiving for the safe deliverance of the Church and for the heroism of a former parishioner Captain Michael Allmand who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroism in the Far East. (Further details of which can be found in "A Look Around the Church). In the late 1960s arson destroyed the sacristy and smoke severely damaged the interior of the church. A new sacristy was built by the then Parish Priest Fr De Felecia and the Church was restored to its former beauty. The Sacristy was re-ordered in 1996-97 by Fr John Helm in keeping with the Liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council with the installation of a Shrine to St Edward the Confessor. PARISH PRIESTS 1908 William Bendon 1921 Dr. Ambrose O.Gorman 1921 Charles Simms 1943 James Thornton 1963 Carmine De Felice 1976 Andrew Morley 1984 John Helm DEACONS 1978-1994 Rev Graham Jenkins 14 June 2008 Rev Anthony Clark was Ordained a Pemanent Deacon by Cardinal Murphy O'Connor |
Page last updated November 2008 |