"A building of national significance. Formed in 1726 within the upper space of a late medieval malt barn, the chapel has some claim to be the oldest post-Reformation place of public Catholic worship in the country, preceding the legalisation of church building by some 65 years. It retains many of its early Georgian fittings and an important collection of historic vestments and liturgical furnishings. The building is attached to a grade II* farmhouse (now in separate ownership) and with its adjoining presbytery occupies a picturesque location within the Brailes Conservation Area. "
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"Ss Peter & Paul, Brailes is in the upper storey of a medieval malt barn attached to the Old Rectory Farm. It is one of the oldest post Reformation public Catholic churches in England
The Rectory Farm, dating from the mid-16th century, belonged to the Augustinian friars of Kenilworth who leased it to John Bishop. After the Dissolution he bought the farm and established a secret Mass centre in the attic. There was a priest’s hide in the house. John’s eldest son, William, was born there in 1554 and educated at the clandestine Catholic school in the village. He studied for a time in Oxford and then, along with many Catholic exiles, went to the continent. He was ordained a priest at Laon in France in 1583 and probably served in Brailes but was subsequently exiled to France where he studied at the Sorbonne. He was a noted controversialist and writer and on 4 June 1623 was consecrated titular Bishop of Chalcedon at Paris and appointed the first Vicar Apostolic of England. He died on 16 April 1624 and was probably buried in St Pancras cemetery.
Throughout the recusant period Mass was said regularly and a school was maintained. St Margaret’s Catholic School in Friars Lane was built by Lady Bedingfeld in 1881 and closed in 1952. The local community showed generous tolerance to the Catholic community and no Catholic in Brailes was ever betrayed. The present chapel was constructed in 1726 by Father George Bishop, over fifty years before the Act of 1791 which first made Catholic chapels legal, and has served the local parish ever since. The parishes of Brailes and Ilmington with Shipston were combined in 1973 as the Parish of Our Lady and the Apostles and canonically amalgamated in 2013.
The Grade II* listed chapel and presbytery were restored by the Most Rev. Maurice Couve de Murville, 8th Archbishop of Birmingham, with generous help from English Heritage in 1992-93. The former farm kitchen and service wing beneath the chapel was restored in 2009 for use as a parish hall.
Features of special interest -
The Georgian panelling and altar rails are original and there is 18th century Chinese wallpaper in the priest’s sacristy. Three of the original box pews are preserved in the organ gallery. The one manual chamber organ with its fine mahogany case was made about 1826 by Joseph Robson, organ builder to King George IV. It was restored and rebuilt by Michael Latham and obtained for the chapel in 2008.
The painting of the Crucifixion over the altar is from the late 17th century. On the west wall there is a 19th century painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and over the door an 18th century painting of Christ.
The icon of Our Lady with SS Peter and Paul by Peter Murphy was given in 2008 in memory of Merche Bovill, a parishioner who died in 2007. The statues of St Joseph (by Mayer of Munich), the Sacred Heart and Our Lady, Queen of Peace (carved by a Polish craftsman as a thankoffering for the end of the Second World War) came from St Philip’s Church, Ilmington when it closed in 2013.
The recusant library and most of the collection of antique vestments and plate belonging to the chapel are kept in the museum at Oscott College in Birmingham and at Harvington Hall near Kidderminster. Some of these items came from Weston House at Long Compton, the home of the recusant Sheldon family, where a chapel was maintained until the beginning of the 19th century. 17th and 18th century sets of vestments have been kept in the chapel and are used at Mass on special feast days."
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