The congregation at Our Lady of Grace in Charlton have been told their church can stay for another year – but the row between two Catholic communities over its long-term future goes on.
The building, a local landmark on Charlton Road, is owned by the Augustinians of the Assumption, a Catholic congregation that founded it as a place of worship in 1906 after its adherents had been expelled from France.
After the Assumptionists withdrew from Charlton in 1989, the group continued to own the land but the Archdiocese of Southwark – the part of the Catholic Church that covers south London and Kent – was given a licence to take over the land.
But last month the Assumptionists threatened the archdiocese with eviction, not just from the church but the presbytery next door and church hall. They accuse the archdiocese of failing to maintain the buildings. In turn, the archdiocese says the buildings were in a bad way when it took over, and that it does not have the funds for a major refurbishment.
The Assumptionists have now lifted their threat to repossess the church on June 30, but are now expecting the archdiocese to vacate the rest of the land. The presbytery, Highcombe House, is the former home of Frank Barlow, the engineer who designed St Pancras station. The Assumptionists say that some rooms in the Grade II-listed house are now uninhabitable.
The site also includes the old home of Our Lady of Grace primary school, which moved out in 2017. The current school is not part of the dispute, but the Assumptionists say they were not told that it was moving, and that they then discovered that the other buildings were in a poor condition too. They also claim that some rooms in Highcombe House are uninhabitable, and that renovation work needs to start as soon as possible.
After five years of talks, in 2022 the Assumptionists offered the archdiocese the church as a gift – keeping Highcombe House and the hall, although allowing the parish a right of way across the land. However, the archdiocese turned down the offer, saying the conditions were too restrictive.
The row continues to affect the church’s congregation, many of which have long-standing family connections with the church. Una Coyne, whose parents and grandparents worshipped at Our Lady of Grace after arriving in Charlton from Ireland in 1935, told The Greenwich Wire last week: “I almost feel like my parents are being taken away from me again.”
Parishioners fear that the Assumptionists want to sell the land, but The Greenwich Wire has been told that it has no long-term plans for the site at present.
A spokesperson for the Assumptionists said: “It is desperately sad that the buildings in Charlton have been left in such a state of disrepair as to endanger their public use, and that they have not been maintained properly by their current occupants.
“As custodians, we have made every effort to find a solution with the diocese that would allow the continued use of the parish church. Sadly, having tried to ensure the diocese uphold their obligations, we have been left with no choice but to end our lease so that these buildings can be repaired.”
The Archdiocese of Southwark said: “When the parish took over running the church, it was in need of repair and maintenance. Despite not owning any of the buildings or the church, the parish has done its best, with limited resources, to care for the fabric of the church, presbytery and hall.
“But, given the repairs needed since the parish took over, it has never been in a position to invest the amount of money needed to repair them fully. Significant repairs are still needed, which the parish and the archdiocese simply cannot afford.
“The proposed transfer of the church came with restrictive conditions, such as preventing us making any of the much-needed changes to the small car parking area, as well as restricting how we manage the church building in the future.
“This would make running the parish a practical impossibility. It also means, even if the parish had the money for repairs, it would be doing so with no real certainty or control over its future, which is especially concerning given that the Assumptionists recently asked us to leave in just three months.
“Our priority is to do what is best for our worshippers in Charlton both now, and in the future, and we will keep them updated as we continue to work with the Assumptionists and their lawyers.”
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