Holy Trinity - Hethe, Oxfordshire - Roman Catholic Churches on Waymarking.com

Holy Trinity RC church, Hethe, was the fourth Catholic church to be built in Oxfordshire following the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1791.

"No Roman Catholics were reported in Hethe from the English Reformation in the 1540s until after the English Civil War. However, in the first half of the 16th century William Fermor of Somerton bought the manor of Hardwick 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Hethe, in 1606 Sir Richard Fermor bought the manor of Tusmore, 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Hethe and in 1625 the Fermor family moved to Tusmore from Somerton. The Fermors were a recusant family who had their own Roman Catholic chapel, a family priest (usually a Jesuit), and employed Catholic staff whom they allowed to attend Mass at their family chapel. The Fermors supported Catholic communities who farmed their lands at Godington (3 miles (4.8 km) east of Hethe), Hardwick and Somerton.

At some time the Fermors acquired land at Hethe, and in 1676 ten Catholics working for the Fermors were living there. A Roman Catholic population numbering less than ten survived in Hethe survived throughout the 18th and early part of the 19th centuries, some but not all of them working for the Fermors. They attended Mass at the chapel in Tusmore until the Fermors closed it for refurbishment in 1768. Thereafter they attended Mass at a chapel in Hardwick created in the attic of the manor house, but the Fermors sold the manor in 1828 and the new owner closed the chapel in 1830.

In 1832 the priest from Hardwick had Holy Trinity church built at Hethe to serve the Roman Catholic population there and in surrounding villages. It is a Gothic Revival building but the name of its architect is not recorded."

SOURCE - (visit link)

Type of Church: Church Status of Building: Actively in use for worship Date of building construction: 01/01/1831 Dominant Architectural Style: Gothic Revival Archdiocese: Birmingham Diocese: Oxford Address/Location: Holy Trinity Church Hardwick Road Hethe, Oxfordshire England OX27 8AW Relvant Web Site: [Web Link] Date of organization: Not listed Associated Shrines, Art, etc.: Not listed

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