The church, located in Warwick Street, is very modest and
could easily be passed by. Only the noticeboards, a cross on the roof and a
couple of statues on the first floor give an indication that this brick built
building is something else. One of the local clergy saw me taking photos and
suggested that I have a look around inside to see the real beauty of this church
- and he was not wrong.
The Soho Masses website (visit link) gives a breif history
of the church:
"The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption & St.
Gregory, Warwick Street, Soho, is one of the most historic churches in the
Diocese of Westminster, reaching back to 1724. British History Online suggests
that due to the ministrations of clergy serving the then Royal Bavarian Embassy
chapel in 1780, the area may have been a focus for English Catholics to gather
around, with 1000 people, including Catholics, living in St. James’ Parish and
many more in St. Anne’s Parish, Soho. Other references suggest that in the
latter part of the 18th & 19th centuries, parts of this area offered refuge
to poorer people who served the better-off merchants living in nearby Mayfair.
The “Portuguese Chapel” and St. Anne’s Parish Church were noted for their
ministry to the poor. There are, therefore, historical precedents in reaching
out to marginalised groups in the area.
Many of those who use the
Church of the Assumption do so due to historical ties, having worked in the
area, being received into the Church, or married there. Workers from local
hotels, restaurants, shops and offices, also use the church on weekdays. The
parish is now served by the Rector, who is also Vicar-General for Westminster
Diocese, assisted by other priests. The parish is dependent financially
upon income generated by the letting of commercial property in the adjoining
building in Golden Square, as well as church collections.
Masses in
Westminster Diocese, welcoming LGBT Catholics, parents, families and friends,
began in April 1999 on the Sunday following the bombing of the Admiral Duncan
public-house in Old Compton Street. These liturgies were first held in the
Convent of the Helpers of the Holy Souls in Camden Town, London.
When the Convent property was sold in 2001, the LGBT
worshiping community relocated temporarily to St. Anne’s Anglican Church, Dean
Street, Soho. As the congregation enlarged in its Soho location, it eventually
outgrew the space available.
In March 2007, following a period of consultation with
Diocesan representatives, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered Catholics,
parents and friends were invited to transfer 1st & 3rd Sunday 5.00 pm Masses
from St. Anne’s Anglican Church, Soho to the Church of Our Lady of the
Assumption & St. Gregory, Warwick Street, Soho. A statement
encouraging “full and active participation” by LGBT Catholics in the life of the
Church was issued by the Diocese of Westminster on 2 February 2007. The Soho
Masses Pastoral Council was invited to make its own statement regarding the
initiative. A further statement from Westminster Diocese confirming this
pastoral provision was released on 17 December 2007.
The regular
1st & 3rd Sundays’ evening congregation has a regular attendance of well
over 100, but there is estimated overall contact with 250-300 people, some being
occasional participants. These Masses are served by a rota of 15 priests from a
variety of dioceses and religious communities, some of whom are resident or work
in Westminster Diocese. The Soho Masses Pastoral Council, 12 people, elected on
an annual basis by regular Mass participants, has been responsible for planning
these liturgies, and a number of other pastoral events."
Depart its external looks the church is Grade II* listed and
the entry at the English Heritage website (visit
link) tells us:
"Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church - II*
Built as the Portuguse Embassy Chapel c. 1730, transferred to the Bavarian
Embassy in 1736; rebuilt 1788 after the Gordon Riots. Red brick, slate roof.
Deliberately domestic looking elevation. 2 storeys. 3 window wide pedimented
centre with narrow flanking bays. Central corniced doorway and flanking flat
gauged brick arched windows. 1st floor level has 3 blind semicircular arched
windows. Stone bracket cornice and pediment. Inside the western part of the
Chapel has retained its C18 character with galleries around 3 sides on wood
grained columns with Adam style capitals and ceiling plasterwork in similar
vein. Cast iron gallery balustrades by Bentley who shortened them when he
altered the east end in a Veneto- Byzantine manner from 1874 onwards, the apse
faced in grey marble panels with mosaics of 1910 and the saints in panels even
later. Font of 1788. Large relief sculptures of the Assumption, formerly part of
High Altar by J. E. Carew, 1853. Early C19 Italian neo- classical altar
originating from Foxcote House, Ilmington, Warwicks."
The British History On-Line website (visit
link) gives a further description of the building:
"The church has a modest brick front that is almost
domestic in character. It is designed in two stages each of five bays, the three
centre bays forming a slight projection. The brickwork appears to have been dyed
red, but it was probably yellow originally. The lower stage consists of a large
round-arched doorway flanked by two tall flat-headed windows, the end bays being
occupied by slightly smaller versions of the centre doorway. The doors
themselves have raised-and-fielded ovolo-moulded panels, the centre one in four
leaves, the outer ones in two, while above them are fanlights with radial
glazing-bars. To all three doorways have been added new, and decidedly
unsympathetic, stone surrounds. In the upper stage the windows are round-arched
with continued sills of stone. The two end bays are glazed, but those in the
centre are blind with recessed brick surrounds. Above this stage is a simplified
entablature, the projecting centre being finished with a triangular pediment.
The cornice and architrave mouldings are of stone, and above the end bays is a
stone-coped parapet. The apex of the pediment is surmounted by a gilded cross,
and in each of the three middle bays of the upper stage is a gilded
eight-pointed star, the outer two having beneath them the figure of an angel.
These ornaments, however, are very modern additions; the stars were added in
1952 and the angels in 1957.
The interior of the church is a simple rectangle to
which has been added Bentley's semi-circular eastern apse. At the west end is a
deep sloping gallery which is continued along both sides of the church, although
it has now been cut back a little way short of the east end. The gallery is
supported by iron columns cased in wood, the capitals consisting of acanthus
leaves tightly moulded around the top of the column. The gallery-fronts are
designed in the form of dentilled coved cornices, surmounted by patterned iron
railings which are broken at intervals by panelled pedestals. The south gallery
has four round-arched windows and the north gallery six, two of the latter being
placed at the east end beyond the gallery while the western two are blocked by
the adjoining building. At the back of the west gallery is the organ, originally
erected in the 1790's and rebuilt several times, most recently in 1960. The
ceiling is coved, the flat centre part being divided into rectangular
compartments of varying sizes by enriched ribs. At the east end a series of
broad steps leads up to the altar, which is contained in the apse. This is
designed in three sections. The lower section, finished with a moulded marble
cornice, is decorated with a pattern of inlaid coloured marbles, while the
second stage is divided into compartments by pavonazzo marble pilasters
supporting an enriched marble entablature. Within the compartments are mosaics
depicting the Virgin and Child flanked by St. Gilbert, St. Gregory, St. Joseph,
St. John the Evangelist, St. Edward the Confessor and St. Cecilia. The topmost
section comprises the domed head of the apse, an enriched marble archivolt
framing a mosaic depicting the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin in Heaven.
Carew's plaque is now set high up in the wall face north of the apse. It depicts
the draped figure of the Virgin being carried to Heaven by winged cherubs, the
lower part of the plaque being filled by a radiant five-pointed star. The oblong
frame breaks into a slight curve at the top over the head of the Virgin and is
supported at the bottom by two carved brackets. The font is said to be 'probably
of c. 1788', and was originally placed against the south wall beside the
confessional; it now occupies the south entrance lobby. It is of stone, and
simply designed with an oval bowl resting on a bulbous baluster-shaft having a
moulded base.
Beneath the north gallery is an altar, now dedicated to
St. Gregory, which was brought from Foxcote House, Warwickshire, in 1958. It is
of multi-coloured marble with large panels of green marble set into the sides.
In the centre panel is fixed a round plaque of white marble, carved in high
relief with the figure of a pelican in her piety.
Alterations to the interior of the church were being
made early in 1963, when this volume was in the press. In the eastern apse the
mosaic depicting the Virgin and Child was being replaced by a large crucifix
attached to a panel of red marble, and the Lady Chapel on the south side of the
church was being refitted, all to the designs of Douglas
Purnell."