In 1913, there were no houses on Chichele Road. The first one to be built was the one which is now no.12, the Priest's House. Father Algernon Herrmann Lang, who had his own independent means, bought it in 1914 for £2870, hoping to build a Catholic Church alongside. He was however refused permission by the council to build beside the house, and so he bought the plot directly behind. The purchase was completed on 7 June 1914.
The architect was James Leonard Williams A.R.I.B.A, generally known as J. Leonard Williams. Because of World War I, the building period was to be long-drawn-out, and it is thought that Williams died before the completion of the project. The style is an adapted late Gothic, unusual for a Catholic parish church, and the same style was carried through in the rood screen, the organ gallery, the door to the old sacristy and the sedilia (priests' seats). The building firm was Messrs Salisbury & Son of Harpenden, Herts.
Although Father Lang was the driving force and the financial support of the project, it was the Bishop who suggested the dedication to All Saints, an unusual name for a Catholic Church.
Father Lang was born on 6 August 1852, the son of a West End solicitor. The young Lang entered Holy Orders in the Church of England and rapidly distinguished himself in several offices.
In 1906 at the age of 54 he became a convert, and was ordained in 1909. After a varied assortment of posts, he told the Bishop that he had come into a great deal of money through a series of deaths in his wealthy family, and that he wanted to use his fortune for the benefit of the church. The Bishop offered him a choice of two locations and he chose Oxted. For fifteen years his considerable gifts and energies were devoted whole-heartedly to the church and parish of Oxted. He died in 1929 at the age of 76.
Bishop Peter E. Amigo of the Archdiocese of Southwark arrived to lay the stone on 3 August 1914. But the happy occasion was immediately overshadowed by the shattering event of the following day when World War I broke out. However, it was still possible to complete a certain amount of building. The sacristy, now the Parish Room, was finished, and Mass could be celebrated there for the first time on 17 October.
Building had to be suspended until after the war, to the deep frustration of all concerned. The chancel was boarded off until the nave could be built. During the war the sacristy under the chancel was used for Mass, and the congregation was increased to 200 by a number of Belgian refugees. When the Lancashire Regiment were also stationed here, Mass had to be said in the open-air.
In 1919, even before the nave was built, the rood screen and gallery were erected, designed by Leonard Williams. The carvings are of two saints for each of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, with St Thomas of Canterbury in the middle, and the whole is crowned with a Calvary.
Later that year building proper began again, and by December 1920 the whole shell was finished. The flooring was laid in October 1923 at a cost of £133 - most of which was raised by holding a bazaar in the garden. At the same time the walls were plastered, but the ceiling decoration by Geoffrey Webb had to wait until 1928.
Geoffrey Webb also designed the organ gallery completed in October 1925. Webb was responsible too for the lych gate which was finished in July 1927. For many years this was the only access to the grounds.
The original main altar is of very unusual design. First of all the mensa (top slab), which weighs a third of a ton, was installed on 26 March 1924, and it took ten men to carry it and get it into position.
On top of this stands the striking reredos, consisting of separate gilded and painted figures of wood. These are copied from a painting by Fra Angelico of about 1450, which now hangs in the Louvre. It is entitled The Coronation of the Virgin.
The font was installed some time before March 1924. The pulpit carved in oak and decorated with shields of St George's and St Andrew's crosses was installed in 1928. The statue of St Thérèse the Little Flower was set up in 1925 and was a gift from two parishioners. The statue of St Joseph was placed in October 1927. The original organ was first played in public in 1926.
On 6 July 1927 came the moment for which Father Lang had been waiting, the consecration of his church, when the Papal flag was flown from its roof to mark the occasion to passers-by. The ceremonies began at 8.30 a.m. after an overnight vigil. Afterwards, there was a lunch in the Barn Theatre for the Bishop, 19 priests and about 80 other guests.
When Father Lang died a new priest Oscar Leake was appointed and stayed for seven years until 1936. He had been Assistant Priest in three different parishes, in one of which he managed to pay off a very large debt. Father Leake had problems on several fronts. Not only was he taking over from a charismatic character, but there was much to do to sort out boundary problems, and the fact that many Catholics in the larger area had too far to go to a church. As for the church, several important purchases still had to be made.
He had started to look for a site suitable for a church in Edenbridge, and found one where the old cottage hospital stood. The church of St Lawrence was opened in 1933, and was served from Oxted. Meanwhile, two years earlier, the church of St Theresa of the Infant Jesus had been completed in Biggin Hill, also served from Oxted.
1931 was a busy year for Father Leake, when he made a number of major purchases. The most expensive items were the oak benches. A new tabernacle, constructed as a safe, was bought from Father Green of Newbury parish.
Until 1931 the Stations of the Cross had consisted of a set of prints and now new ones were bought, also from Newbury. A wooden statue of the Sacred Heart was purchased, and set on a pedestal from Newbury.
The next priest, Father Edward Cosmo Brown, was born in Highgate, London. After being parish priest in Keymer, Sheerness and Tooting, he was appointed to Oxted in 1936.
During the war four Canadian regiments were stationed in Oxted and bombs were aimed at their arms dump in Staffhurst Wood. The church itself was hit by an incendiary.
In 1944 the Bishop commented: 'The flying bombs have made it difficult for our people to come to services. I was very pleased to see so many people in your small congregation come to the visitation.'
Father Brown died in 1946. The next priest, Father Oswald Bussy was born on 24 July 1902, was ordained in 1928, and came to take over the parish until he died in 1974.
The second Vatican Council met in 1962 and 1963. One of the main results of this was the modernisation of the liturgy, which meant, among other things, that Mass should be said in the language of the country. Another change was that the priest should face the people, and the Sign of Peace was introduced.
These changes were part of the wider purpose, that of bringing priest and people closer. In All Saints' the division between priest and people was all too clearly marked because of the rood screen, a subject of warm discussion for many long years. Besides changes affecting the Church itself, another momentous idea was that of approaching other churches and working with them, a long process coming to fruition in 1986 with the signing of the Local Covenant for Unity.
When Father Bussy died in 1974, Father Michael Lane was appointed to Oxted. He was born in 1915 in north London, and trained as a motor engineer before joining the army in 1940. He studied for the priesthood in Osterley and Wonersh, and was ordained in 1954 at the age of 39.
During his time here, every aspect of the parish developed. There were four main areas of action. First and most basic was the organisation of the parish itself, where a church council had to be established. Then, following the Second Vatican Council, something ought to be done to the interior of the church to enable the new liturgy to be fittingly carried out. Then much was necessary to foster the sense of community and social life which entailed both building work and organisational innovation. Finally, looking out further from the narrow confines of the parish, links with other Christian churches in Oxted were in the air.
On 17 February 1974, the new priest was introduced to members of the Parish Men's Committee. Later that year Father Lane formally proposed a Constitution for a Parish Council and it was agreed.
From the first meeting of the PPC in 1974 one of the subjects uppermost in people's minds was whether Mass should now be said facing the people, and Father Lane said he would try to get a temporary altar. A new temporary altar was obtained, and Mass was said facing the people from April 1974. However, it was May 1976 before the congregation began to use the Sign of Peace. Lay readers had been introduced by 1974, though men only, until 1977, when women and children were allowed to read.
But the subject which for 35 long years exercised the minds of the PPC, successive parish priests and the parishioners was the question of the rood screen. At a meeting of the PPC in December 1975 the proposal to remove the rood screen was first tentatively made. The Bishop had expressed concern that the new liturgy could not be fully effective with the screen dividing the priest from the congregation. At last in 1979 the PPC was constrained to discuss the matter seriously, and the first of many reports was prepared, with three possible plans.
The same year the Diocesan Art and Architecture Sub-Committee submitted their report and proposals. They produced four options - various combinations of moving or removing the screen and gallery, wholly or partly. When these suggestions were put to the parishioners in a questionnaire, no one option won against the others, and the matter was shelved yet again.
By 1985, the parish had come a long way and achieved a great deal. The choir had been established, there was a Society of St Vincent de Paul to work with the disadvantaged, and a Justice and Peace group to look at world issues. A branch of the Catholic Women's League was established. There were arrangements for the young people of the parish. On the financial side, the Covenant Scheme was adopted whereby income-tax-payers could ensure that the tax on their giving went to the parish. Ecumenical relations with other churches were high on the agenda, and the progress towards the local covenant for unity will be described below.
The Second Vatican Council opened in 1962 under the leadership of Pope John XXIII, but sadly he died after the first session, and a second session took place in 1963. One of its main preoccupations was the modernisation of the liturgy - another was the furtherance of Christian unity.
A local Council of Churches had been in existence since 1952, and before that there had been a United Churches' Committee from 1947. The local Council of Churches became affiliated to the British Council of Churches in 1961.
In 1982 a working party was formed to see if more could be done together, and in 1984 came the idea of the Local Covenant for Unity. This of course involved long hours of discussions to establish a common ground.
Father Gerald Vann, the nephew of the celebrated Dominican writer of the same name, arrived in September 1988. During his stay here much was achieved especially in the spiritual life of the parish, and the launching of the RENEW programme.
This was a far-ranging and ambitious endeavour to revitalise the spiritual life of parishes at grassroots level through a series of meetings of lay people in small groups, special liturgy and activities to be accomplished in one's own time. The programme was launched on 25 September 1988 by Bishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor at Brighton and Hove Football Stadium
RENEW was the inspiration behind the series of Parish Mission Plans which played an important part in the parish in the nineties. At this time were sown the seeds of much of the activity of the parish at the present time.
In May 1994, Bishop Cormac issued a Diocesan Vision Statement in which he called on all parishes to prepare for the millennium. People were to be encouraged to deepen their understanding, re-evaluate their celebration and rethink their witness of what it means to be Christ in our world. Among the practical outcomes of this effort were the establishment of the Prayer Circle and faith-sharing groups ('small communities'), the Care Line, the development of a proper parish register, welcoming at Sunday masses, information packs for newcomers, a parish directory, marriage and family life courses and the launch of 'News Round-Up' to supplement publicity.
Catholics in Tatsfield first of all came to the church in Oxted, but later had a series of meeting-places nearer home. Eventually the Anglican rector, Revd Kenneth Lewis kindly offered his church for Mass and the first Mass was said there on 11 June 1967, the first instance in the country of Mass in a non-Catholic church.
In 1976, the Bishop suggested that perhaps a Saturday evening Mass could be arranged in Hurst Green and a Mass Centre was proposed. But the Anglican Church of St John at Hurst Green generously offered the use of their building. The disastrous fire in St John's in 1987 prompted an equally generous offer from the Methodist Church, and since then a Saturday evening Mass has been celebrated there.
Father Robin Mountford celebrated 25 years in the Priesthood shortly after joining us in 1994. He was born in Southern Rhodesia of South African parents in 1938, and moved to South Africa. Later he moved to the UK and worked in several parishes before coming to Oxted. The following is extracted from A tribute to Fr Robin .....- by Maureen Roberts
In June 1999 he was taken seriously ill on the same weekend that our Deacon, Stuart Geary, was ordained. In the emergency, several different priests stepped into the breach until Father John Olliver of Mill Hill was appointed Parish Administrator, combining his post in Mill Hill with making the long journey to Oxted every week.
Father Robin oversaw the plans for the reordering of All Saints', a process that came to fruition over many years, from the first commissioning in 1995 of our architect Deirdre Waddington. The first services in the reconstructed All Saints took place on 22 April 2001 - one week, to the day, after Easter Sunday.
(Extracted from the book : All Saints' Church Yesterday and Today available for £7.50)
©, All Saints; Oxted,
2000
Last Updated: 07 Jan 2005
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