Saint Patrick’s Church, Wapping

In 1871 a new Catholic Parish of Wapping was ordered to be set up by Cardinal Manning.  It was to serve the large numbers of Irish Catholics who had emigrated to Wapping in the mid 1800s.  The first priest appointed was Fr David Hickey whose first task was to find a suitable site to build a church.  On to the market came the site of the  Wapping Workhouse that had closed recently.  The site was owned by the Vestry of St John of Wapping.  The Catholic Church made an offer and this was accepted by the Vestry who put in the proviso that the Catholic Church was to have no belfry.  This was agreed. 

St Patrick’s Church was designed by Francis Tasker, heavily influenced by Cardinal Manning, who liked the Italian Palladio style and disliked the high Gothic of the time.  Built in 1879,  the Church has a simple Tuscan barn outward appearance and at the back, on a metal frame, a single bell.  The simplicity of the outside of the Church is in sharp contrast to its grand interior.  Huge ionic columns of honey coloured Bath stone, possibly the finest in the country, run down the middle of the Church.  They are topped by a wooden ceiling.  Light is obtained by square windows set high up in the aisle walls and a large circular window at the end of the Church.  

When bombs and incendiaries destroyed St Johns of Wapping, St. Patrick’s Church was virtually unmarked.  But during a later air raid in 1940, incendiary bombs landed on the roof of the Church.  The roof started to burn.  Luckily, an Air Raid Warden, on fire watch on a nearby building, saw the fire and managed to raise the Fire Brigade, who were able to save St Patrick’s.

St Patrick’s Church is famous for its Fife and Drum Band and its annual Processions were held until the 1960s.