Ss Peter & Paul - Lower Brailes, Warwickshire - UK Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

An information board near to the Catholic church of Ss Peter & Paul, Lower Brailes - the upper storey of a medieval malt barn attached to the Old Rectory Farm.

The board reads -
CATHOLIC CHAPEL
OF
ST PETER and ST PAUL
The Chapel is in the upper story
of the medieval malt barn.
It was opened in 1726 by the -
Bishop family of the Rectory Farm
who maintained a secret
Mass centre in the house
throughout Tudor and Stuart times.

Dr. William Bishop (1554-1624),
consecrated Bishop of Chalcedon
and first Vicar Apostolic
of England in 1623, was born here.
The Chapel is open daily to visitors.

"It is one of the oldest post Reformation public Catholic churches in England

The Rectory Farm, dating from the mid-16th century, belonged to the Augustinian friars of Kenilworth who leased it to John Bishop. After the Dissolution he bought the farm and established a secret Mass centre in the attic. There was a priest’s hide in the house. John’s eldest son, William, was born there in 1554 and educated at the clandestine Catholic school in the village. He studied for a time in Oxford and then, along with many Catholic exiles, went to the continent. He was ordained a priest at Laon in France in 1583 and probably served in Brailes but was subsequently exiled to France where he studied at the Sorbonne. He was a noted controversialist and writer and on 4 June 1623 was consecrated titular Bishop of Chalcedon at Paris and appointed the first Vicar Apostolic of England. He died on 16 April 1624 and was probably buried in St Pancras cemetery.

Throughout the recusant period Mass was said regularly and a school was maintained. St Margaret’s Catholic School in Friars Lane was built by Lady Bedingfeld in 1881 and closed in 1952. The local community showed generous tolerance to the Catholic community and no Catholic in Brailes was ever betrayed. The present chapel was constructed in 1726 by Father George Bishop, over fifty years before the Act of 1791 which first made Catholic chapels legal, and has served the local parish ever since. The parishes of Brailes and Ilmington with Shipston were combined in 1973 as the Parish of Our Lady and the Apostles and canonically amalgamated in 2013.

The Grade II* listed chapel and presbytery were restored by the Most Rev. Maurice Couve de Murville, 8th Archbishop of Birmingham, with generous help from English Heritage in 1992-93. The former farm kitchen and service wing beneath the chapel was restored in 2009 for use as a parish hall."

SOURCE - (visit link)

Type of Historic Marker: info board Related Website: [Web Link] Give your Rating: Historical Marker Issuing Authority: Not listed Age/Event Date: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please submit your visiting log with a picture of the object and include some interesting information about your visit.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.