The Second Catholic Relief Act of 1791 marked the start of a century-plus of the building of a series of interesting Catholic churches on the Isle of Wight.
Elizabeth Browne was born on the island in 1734. She was brought up at Sleat Manor, Chillerton and was educated at a Catholic school for girls in Hammersmith. She married into the ancient Catholic family of Heneage from Hainton in Lincolnshire.
The first church she paid for was that of St Thomas of Canterbury, Newport in 1791. It has the external appearance of a Methodist chapel, being a single rectangle with a pedimented gable on the street and handsome white Tuscan porch with columns. The charming interior has galleries, supported by green composite columns, with box pews. The sanctuary is a shallow recess with a baldacchino. A marble wall tablet records the death in 1800 of the benefactress and includes the words “Poor in Spirit amidst her Opulence From her infancy Mercy grew up with her… and she opened her hands to the indigent. Munificent in erecting and adorning Sacred Edifices And bountifully assisting others in the like works In the last Day She shall not fear the evil hearing… For alms will not suffer the Soul to go into darkness… REQUIESCAT IN PACE. Amen.” The church was spared Victorian improvements.
