Letchworth parish profile by RCWestminster

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Parish Profile

Westminster Record | December 2014/January 2015

Letchworth: The ‘Garden City’ ideal By Chris O’Callaghan

Sited on a green opposite North Herts College, the new itting on a train into church is of Art Deco design Hertfordshire I from plans drawn up in 1938. remember how large this Cardinal Heenan did comment diocese is, with Letchworth that it has a cathedral feel Garden City just as much a when he opened it in 1963 part of it as the central because of its exterior height. London churches. My The interior is mostly plain destination was the third most brick, except for white square northerly parish in the pillars and the sanctuary. diocese (only Royston and Above the altar hangs a Baldock are further north) and roundel 16 foot in diameter the first ‘Garden City’ in the which depicts the Crucified world. Lord flanked by angels on a Founded as a Quaker golden backdrop with God the colony by Ebenezer Howard in Father sending down the Holy 1903, Letchworth was built on Spirit from above. It is a greenbelt land with a social remarkable piece of art structure strongly influenced designed by Stephen Foster by the social thinker John and dedicated in 2007 when Ruskin. It was a place to Bishop George Stack escape from the city, yet close consecrated the Church. In his enough to be able to reach it. homily, he spoke of Adrian The Quakers had a ‘broad Fortescue ‘tugging at my outlook’ towards other sleeve. Enough words. Allow religions and welcomed them the actions we are about to to the new town. Letchworth perform speak to people in the was thus mission territory for silence of their hearts.’ the Church, and the parish was The Church was still filled founded in 1907 by Fr Adrian with handmade poppies left Fortescue. A renowned scholar over from Remembrance and linguist, he spoke 11 Sunday, which brought dashes languages, wrote a number of of red to the otherwise simple books and delivered many interior. public lectures. The money he The parish seems to reflect made from these enterprises its surroundings; tranquil but was put towards building the not silent, a peaceful place, first church, which was worthy of Ruskin’s ideals. completed in September 1908 West Londoner Fr Jimmy and dedicated to St Hugh, a Garvey has been Parish Priest Carthusian monk who became in the Garden City for the last Bishop of Lincoln in 1186. two years, having previously When it was built, served at Heathrow Airport. photographs show the church The tranquillity and calm of and presbytery standing next Letchworth make it a place for to fields; a far cry from the ‘staying people’; many go urbanisation of the town today. there in retirement or have This original church has since lived there throughout their been converted into Fortescue lives and it is not difficult to Hall honouring the parish’s see why. He told me of the charismatic founder. Polish migrants who settled in the town in the 1950s to work in the Bedfordshire brickworks and how they are now so numerous that they have their own Sunday Mass. More recently the town has seen an influx of young professionals and young families, many of whom work locally rather than commute. Fr Jim describes the town as a ‘good place to bring up children’, who attend St Thomas More Primary School and then go to John Henry Newman Secondary School in Stevenage. He would not St Hugh of Lincoln describe it as sleepy

The interior of the church and the roundel of the Crucified Lord designed by Stephen Foster

countryside though, and was keen to stress that there has always been activity in the town, even from its foundation. Fr Jim also praised his parishioners for their humility, reflected in the social action they perform: ‘it is more a case of parishioners putting

the Gospel into action their own way quietly and in their own time, such as helping at the Garden Hospice within the parish’. Despite being a fairly affluent area, there are some pockets of poverty which the parish is working to eradicate through the ecumenical group

‘Churches Together’, in Letchworth, a continuation of the Quakers’ ‘broad outlook’ over a century ago. I walked back to the station from the presbytery with Fr Jim as he was on the way to town. He pointed out the College and the Anglican Church which face the Church across the green, the Town Hall ‘which finally has the correct time on its clock’ and the polished shops along the pedestrianized and well-kept high street. I sensed real enjoyment in his posting to this part of the diocese and a comfort around its people. ‘I bump into parishioners all the time just walking through town’, he told me nonchalantly. Even a hundred years on from its foundation, I still felt that the town witnesses to many of the ideals envisaged by the Quaker founders. Not a place for unworldly escape, but one for tranquillity and calm. Founded: 1907, 1963 Consecrated: 2007 Mass Times: (Sat 7pm), 8, 9.30, 11.30, 1pm (Polish) Address: 84 Pixmore Way, Letchworth Garden City, SG6 3TP Telephone: 01462 683504 Website: parish.rcdow.org.uk/ letchworth

The newer, Art Deco style church

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