St. Mary's Bourne Street: London

Si. Mary's Bourne Street London Paul Handley, writing in Church Times of 14 May 1993, agreed with an earlier statement by Ruth Gledhill, religion correspondent of The Times (London), that St. Mary's Bourne Street (as the parish is known) was far too catholic for Roman Catholics. The Church of St. Mary the Virgin is located in a small courtyard behind 30 Bourne Street in the Pimlico area of London. It is only a few minutes walk from the Sloane Square underground station. In its history of a century and a quarter it has evolved from an undistinguished parish to become a widely known bastion of anglo-catholicism. The church of red brick was built in the 187Os as a mission church of St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, to serve an area where servants of the wealthy inhabitants of Belgravia lived. Just after its completion in 1874 the Church Times noted that it was an excellent example of an inexpensive church.1 The little known architect was RJ. Withers (1823-1904). Catholic liturgical practices were introduced by the first vicar and were continued by his successors. The parish grew steadily, attracting parishioners from a wider area. Among these was the prominent anglocatholic layman Lord Fairfax. In 1909 St. Mary's was recognized as a separate parish by the Bishop of London. It was during the tenure of Humphrey Whitby, vicar from 1916 to 1948, that major architectural changes were undertaken. He contributed generously from his own means, raised additional funds, purchased several adjacent houses and demolished them for enlargement of the church. A chapel commemorating the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady and a sacristy were built along the north aisle. A balcony for the organ-choir loft was constructed at the west end of the church, and an adjacent pub known as the Pineapple was purchased and converted into the presbytery. A new entrance to the church, a brick tower in the unusual form of a nonagon, was constructed. The brilliant refurbishing of the interior of the church began in 1916 with the installation of the gilded sarcophagus-shaped high altar and its soaring gilded reredos rising about three stories, depicting the crucifixion. These were designed by the baroque revivalist Martin Travers (1883-1947) and remain the focal points of the interior of the church. He also designed the statue of Our Lady of Peace in a shrine on the north wall. This was completed as a memorial to World War I. The side altars of the church to Our Lady of Sorrows and St. John the Baptist, on the north and south aisles respectively, are the work of H.S. GoodhartRendel (1887-1959)2. In ensuing years paintings, icons, and figurai stained glass windows were added to the ornate interior. The latest addition was a columbarium built to the right of the main entrance in 1999. In a niche of the columbarium is a relic of the true cross. The most recent visit to St. Mary's by this reviewer was on a Trinity Sunday. Plain white linen was on top of the altar, and there was no frontal. There were ten tall candles-five on each side of the large gilded tabernacle. Toward the front of the altar were four gilded monstrance-style reliquaries of baroque design. The rack behind each chair contained a Book of Common Prayer, the New English Hymnal, and booklets for the mass and occasional services outlining the rites used by the parish. A large floral arrangement adorned the shrine of'Our Lady of Peace. At the entrance hymn Holy, holy, holy... the procession of thurifer, crucifer, two torch bearers, two acolytes and the celebrant, deacon and subdeacon came down the north aisle to the rear of the church and continued up the main aisle to the sanctuary. …

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