Parish History

Catholic Ledbury:  The Early Days (1900-1926)

There were some Catholic missions in the Ledbury area in the late 19th century, but an article in the Ledbury Reporter of June 19th 1926 recounts the story of the early development of the Roman Catholic Church in Ledbury in the early 20th century:

"Toward the end of 1900, it seemed to some of the Catholics of Ledbury that something should be done towards establishing once more a church in the town. Major Shaw, of Aylton Court, and Capt. O'Brien of Woodlands, applied to Bishop Hedley at Newport, and at his request, the Benedectine monks at Belmont Abbey undertook the work.

A house, 24 Homend (more recently "Clubsport"), was rented and in a large upper room, carrying us inevitably back to the day of Pentecost, Catholic worship in Ledbury, after an interruption of 350 years was resumed. The little chapel was opened on Good Friday 1901.

Those too were hard days. Canon Wray, who took charge of the new venture, used to cycle over from Belmont on Saturday afternoon - motors were classed as dangerous explosives in those days, though they did not always go off - and after a strenuous weekend at Ledbury, returned on Monday morning to his work at Belmont of training young novices, and I can testify that this, too, was no sinecure, for I was one of those novices.

He was fortunate in finding in Ledbury a lady who not only saw that he had regular meals, did not sleep in damp sheets, and mothered him generally, but also played the organ for his services, and was able to speak sternly when occasion demanded. The spirit of self-sacrifice was in great evidence in those days.

Soon it became evident that some provision should be made for the instruction of the children, and many will remember Sister Rose and Sister Frances, who were found to volunteer their services and came from the Dominican Convent in London for three years.

In 1904 Father Edmund Begley was appointed to be the resident priest, and his first step was to remove from the chapel in the Homend, which had become uncomfortably crowded, to new quarters [dedicated to St Thomas of Hereford] which had been leased in the Southend.

It is not necessary to dwell upon the attractive and popular personality of Father Frederick Lynch, or the genial figure of Father Patrick O'Keefe, for everyone in Ledbury knows them, and under them the Catholic Church in Ledbury was in the happy position, of having no history, it merely flourished.

In 1923, when motors had become more tractable, and exploded only when required to do so, the experiment was tried of having a priest who resided not at Ledbury, but in the large Presbytery of Bartestree, ten miles away, and thus Father Gregory Buisseret became the parish priest of Ledbury.

In 1925, when the lease taken by Father Begley fell in, the church in the Southend had in its turn become uncomfortably crowded, and temporary accommodation was found in the large sorting room of the Post Office which had just become vacant.

The next move in this wandering history will be taken on June 24th, when the Right Rev. Dr Mostyn, Archbishop of Cardiff, is to open a new church near the South Parade."

St Thomas of Hereford, The Southend (1926-1976)

That new church was built in the Southend in AD 1926 .   The original site of St Thomas's church was sold and is now occupied by Southend Mews.

The new church was handy for the prisoner of war camp at Mabel's Furlong and Confessions were heard in Italian at that time.   

The large crucifix in Burma Teak which formerly hung on the wall of the former St Thomas's church in the Southend was originally the gift of the Palairet family, probably in the 1930s.   While being  cleaned and restored the original craftsman's name, Charles Victor Gertner of Hereford, was discovered.   Gertner, whose father was born in Rio de Janeiro, was born in 1881 and was active as a wood sculptor from 1900 until 1940.

With the parish growing, major fundraising by the parishioners - including the first Christmas Bazaar in 1953 and garden fetes - raised money for the a new and larger church to be built.

Most Holy Trinity, New Street (1976-Present)

The present church and presbytery in New Street were built in 1975-6 from designs by F. R. Bates, Son & Price of Newport.   The contractor was David Sherratt Ltd of Hereford.   The church, designed to seat 180 comfortably and to accommodate up to 100 more, was dedicated by Archbishop Murphy of Cardiff on 10 June 1976.

The shallow roof of the church is surmounted by a silver-coloured metal fleche topped by a simple Latin cross. 

The Burma Teak crucifix which now stands at the roadside outside the present church building is that which originally hung on the wall of the former St Thomas's church in the Southend. 

The abstract stained-glass windows above the altar - representing the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity - were installed in 1986 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Church.

The Parish Room was opened in 1992 and has been well used both by the Parish and by local classes and groups.   A number of large art prints, including of the Annunciation and the Nativity, decorate the walls.   The hall kitchen was fully refitted in May 2022.

The back-lit 1874 French stained-glass window of St Elizabeth of Hungary was the gift of John and Diane Dubois in 1996.   Its renovation was made possible through the generosity of Margaret Adams and it was finally installed and blessed in November 2003. 

The Presbytery behind the church was divided into a flat and Parish Centre in 2008.

In Autumn 2011 the Church was re-roofed, a skylight created above the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, and new lighting installed.   Internal redecoration also included plastering behind the tabernacle and behind the Sacred Heart statue.

Most recently during Holy Week of 2021 a new hanging crucifix, carved in Italy, was installed above the sanctuary.

Other works of art distributed around the church comprise:

• an icon of the Hospitality of Abraham (Gen. 18) - an early revelation of the Most Holy Trinity - written in the style of St. Andrei Rublev by Fr Dyfrig Harris OSB of Belmont Abbey in 2007;

• a wooden statue of Our Blessed Lady;

• an icon of Pope St John Paul II;

• the banner of the Ledbury & Belmont Abbey Walsingham Group which organises an annual pilgrimage to the national Marian shrine in Walsingham in Norfolk;

• the large Holy Trinity symbol on the ceiling painted by a local artist Moth;   and

• a set of cast Stations of the Cross - the gift of parishioners Kay and Jock Aldridge - are by Gino Ruggeri, one of the most well known sculptors in Italy and who worked for many years in Tito Bianchi's Factory in Tuscany.    Ruggeri developed a means of mixing alabaster with resin to make it more durable and waterproof.

along with:

• a steel font made by local blacksmith Dave Preston in 2006;  and

• a hand-carved wooden lectern donated in 2012.

The most recent addition is an image of the Divine Mercy - once again the gift of a parishioner - hung in the Shrine Chapel at the back of the church, where one can also find a wide selection of Catholic Truth Society (CTS) booklets for sale.  

Parish extent

The parish lies in the eastern portion of Herefordshire, bounded in the east by the Malvern Hills.   A map of the parish is displayed next to the sacristy showing that in addition to the the market town of Ledbury the parish also comprises the villages of Mathon, Coddington, Bosbury, Colwall, Wellington Heath, Castle Frome, and Much Marcle.