A look at some of the few English medieval buildings currently used for worship by the Catholic Church.
On the Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist in 1559, celebration of the Mass was banned throughout England by Elizabeth I and her Protestant government. The medieval parish churches of England perforce became Anglican.
It is difficult, but not entirely impossible, for English Catholics of the 21st century to worship in a medieval building. This survey reviews those buildings where Catholics have effective possession. It does not cover medieval Anglican churches where Catholic Mass is regularly celebrated; examples of these are Much Hadham, Hertfordshire and Sedbergh, Cumbria. With declining congregations it is a model to which more consideration should perhaps be given in the future.
