St Mary's Chapel (Hampstead) - History

History

St Mary’s was the first Catholic church to be built in Hampstead after the English Reformation of the 16th century. Commissioned by Abbé Jean-Jacques Morel, a refugee from the French Revolution of 1766, the chapel took two years to complete and its commencement coincided with the defeat of Napoleon in 1816.

At that time, parishioners were largely French refugees and itinerant Irish hay-makers who worked in the fields of what was then a village outside London. Canon Morel provided religious education at several private Catholic schools in Hampstead and remained until his death aged 86 years.

St Mary’s Church is located near the top of the hill at Holly Place on Holly Walk, nestled in a row of Georgian houses between Church Row and Mt. Vernon Road. No taller than houses numbered 4 and 5 to either side, the Church’s distinctive facade with bell tower and statue of Virgin and Child was designed by architect William Wardell as the first addition to the original building at the time the law was changed to allow bells to be rung from Catholic churches in 1852.

The interior of the church is decorated with tile mosaics, historical paintings and sculpture, which reflect historical redesigns of the interior and extension of the building. Side altars of stone with carved wooden frontals and arched altarpieces were built and the interior of the church renovated in 1878.

In the 19th century a school was built behind the church but demolished in 1907, the land being used to build the present day sanctuary and side chapels. Considerable repairs were made to the presbytery (rectory) in 1978 so that the upstairs now houses the pastor and downstairs a parish centre. The church was closed during 1990 for major building repairs removing the ceiling to reveal the roof timbers that adorn the church today.

St Dorothy's Convent is nearby on Frognal Road. Sisters often celebrate mass at St Mary’s and the convent is where CCD classes are held for children in the parish who are not in Catholic schools. South of the Church, the buildings now at numbers 1 and 2 Holly Walk were part of the St Vincent’s Convent and Orphanage in the 1800s.