St. Mary and St. Edmund of Canterbury, Abingdon, Berkshire

Description

The Catholic church on the Oxford road, and dedicated to St. Mary and St. Edmund of Canterbury, is an edifice of stone in the Decorated style, and consists of chancel, clerestoried nave and aisles, lady chapel and transept on the north side, another chapel on the south side, sacristy, and a cloister connecting the church with the presbytery; on the west gable of the chapel is an open bell-cote with one bell; the east window, which displays elegant flowing tracery, is stained, and there are sittings for 300 persons; on the west and north of the church is a cemetery, and beyond are schools of the same material and in the same style, with an open bell-turret surmounted by a shingled spirelet; further to the north, with gardens intervening, is the convent, built of brick with stone dressings, in a plain style and consisting of a central block with wings and a large block in rear; adjoining the south wing is a new chapel of brick with stone dressings in the Lancet style, consisting of a lofty nave of five bays with a slender oak-shingled flèche rising over the east end; both the convent and chapel were erected by the late Sir George Bowyer bart.; the organ was provided in 1890.