|
In the latter part of the 19th Century efforts were made to use Becket’s
Chapel in Wymondham as a place of worship. Unfortunately, although the chapel
was in disrepair, no accommodation could be reached with the owners.
From 1893 to 1904, a chapel established in the top bedroom of a private house,
The Red House,
served as the Roman Catholic place of worship. This house, which became the Abbey Hotel, was owned by Mr Newton of Messrs. Newton,
Pollock and Wilson, who had offices in Fairland Street – the current Leather
Shop.
When Mr. Newton retired and left Wymondham in 1904 it appears
that the Catholics had no formal place of worship until the
missionary activities of the Church intervened. In 1911, the
Roman Catholics sent out the “Motor Mission” throughout England.
This was a van fitted out as a chapel and came with excellent
preachers including Fr Herbert Vaughan. They held meetings every
evening for two weeks in that summer in the Old Town Hall in
Wymondham.
Mr. Glasspoole, an organ builder, had a workshop at the back of his home in Cock
Street, curiously even built to look like a chapel. This building, which remains
to this day, became the place of worship of the Roman Catholic community. Mass
was said there for the first time on the second Sunday after Epiphany, 1912, by
Fr HG Hughes.
Newspaper Report
The Building in Cock Street, 2007
Thereafter, every month, on one Sunday morning and one Sunday evening, a
priest came in from Norwich to take services and once a week the
Little Sisters of the Assumption came to instruct people.
Inside the Building
In 1912, a small private school, the Colwyn School, in Town
Green was taken over by Miss Anna Smith who later transferred
the school to her house in Vicar Street. This allowed the school
outbuilding to be rented by the Roman Catholic community as
their Chapel
from about 1920; their first resident
priest, Father T K Phillips, arrived in 1926. Fr Phillips
continued until 1934 until ill health forced his retirement.
The Chapel in Town Green
Fr. Ketterer arrived in Wymondham in 1934 to take over the Roman
Catholic Chapel in Town Green. (this outbuilding later became
the meeting place of the Wymondham and Attleborough Camera Club)
In 1937, The Elms, a house at the
junction of Bridewell Street and Norwich Road, with a stable attached to the
back of the house, was bought for £1,000. The stable was transformed into a
chapel. As soon in 1938 as this was completed, the move was made and the chapel
was dedicated to Our Lady and St Thomas of Canterbury. At last the peripatetic
Roman Catholic community of Wymondham had found a permanent
home.
During the war years the congregation was swelled by Irish labourers building
airfields in the area and until their own chaplains arrived, men of the USAF
bomber squadrons based locally.
In 1946, when Fr. Ketterer moved on, he left, thanks to the generosity of USAF
personnel and Irish labourers, the site, fully paid for, and £2,500 towards the
building of a new church and the priest’s house. At that time, the new priest,
Fr. Cowin, arrived.
Father Malcolm Cowin - former Roman Catholic Chaplain to the 2nd Cambridgeshire
Regiment passed 3½ years in Japanese POW camps. In that time he helped construct
3 chapels in different camps making a vow that, on his return, he would build a
church in memory of all those who died in Japanese POW and Internment camps.
He saw a Parish Church as a way of reaching beyond a traditional monument by
creating a living and constantly revitalised memorial to those who died.
 The
church, designed by local architect Donovan Purcell, former surveyor to the
Fabric of Ely Cathedral, was completed in 1952. Although Norfolk might not
appear an obvious choice for such a memorial church, it should be remembered
that the 18th Division, destined to defend Singapore, but arriving just in time
to be part of the surrender, was composed mainly of the Territorial Battalions
of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, together with other East Anglian
Regiments. The FEPOW shrine is an integral part of the Church and Fr. Cowin said
Mass each day for the War dead until he left the parish in 1965.
A large Parish Hall with full catering facilities was opened on 3rd November
1995 by the Bishop of East Anglia the Rt. Rev. Mgr. Peter Smith.
In 2000, to accommodate expanding numbers in the thriving parish, an appeal was
launched to build an extension to the existing church. The appeal, led by Fr.
David Jennings, again emphasised the importance of ensuring the “Debt of Honour”
to the FEPOWs was properly remembered. The extension was duly built and
consecrated on 27th October 2001. In 2002
it was awarded the South Norfolk Design Award.
Top
|
