Bagshot Hall and the old Catholic Church
A lady from Camberley wrote:
My parents were married in Bagshot in 1950 in a catholic church. Does anyone know if this would have been the present catholic church or was there a different one at that time? Also does anyone have any photos?
Alan replied:
The old church, known as the oratory was on the corner of College Ride and Vicarage Lane, now modern housing, I remember it being there in the very early 1950s when I was small child.
The location was here, and we have a picture of a children's group in the grounds of the oratory here.
Andrew McDermott provides a lot more history of the building after the new Catholic Church was built.
My dad Hugh bought the house and old church and we moved in and named it Bagshot Hall in early 1954, I was just a few months old, the church had closed as the new Catholic Church of Christ the King on Guildford Rd had opened. My Dad bought the house thinking we would be close to the church.It was a fantastic house to live in with a massive garden with the cherry tree and great big Newton Wonder apple tree as well as many other trees and the large fir tree that grew by the gate always known by us as the umbrella tree.
The holly hedge that ran the length of the garden along College ride always provided plenty of material for Bonfire night. Fr Porter used to bring the servers from church up for bonfire night. I seem to remember it was Mr Aggat(?) who lived not far away who came to cut the hedge - a good week or twos work.
The old church building was let to Mr Clifford who lived further up College Ride - he painted RAC signs to put up on the roads around Bagshot, Camberley and the surrounding area. During school holidays I would often go out with him putting up signs and making sure the Blue phone boxes were clean and doing any necessary repairs. He also painted the house name that was above the front door.
Saturday afternoons in the winter were often spent watching the local football team playing in Penny Hill Park - real football!
Part of the ground floor was let to Mrs Plummer and her daughter who taught at St Francis in Ascot. I well remember the telephone box on the corner of College Ride, it was a regular stopping post for the local policeman on his beat. In the winter he was often given a cup of tea.
We left Bagshot on January 7th 1963 - the house and building sold back to the church. Fr Porter moved in for a while, before being replaced. The old house and buildings were knocked down in the late 1960s to be replaced by the row of houses that now stand on the corner of College Ride.
Mairette Williams wrote from Australia:
It was my Great Uncle Charles Farmer who set up the oratory. His brother Ernest Clarence Farmer is my Grandfather. He came here to Australia when he was about 18 yrs old with his brother William (Billy). [Jul 12]
From June Green
In 2000 the late John Jillings, then research officer of the Bagshot Society, wrote a booklet about Bagshot Hall (it was named Bagshot Hall long before 1954, and in a 1913 Directory is known as "The Hall"). He was in touch with Fr Peter Farmer who, as a child, lived there with his brother and sister from 1928-45 and was probably Charles Farmer's son. The oratory was built in the grounds during the Farmer family's residence. The Hall was built in 1840 by a naval officer and demolished in 1969. An article in the March 2000 Bagshot Society newsletter contains reminiscences of the hall from two more former residents. [Oct 12]
[Jan13]
From Mo Fredricks :
I remember Miss Plummer very well as she taught me at St.Tarcisius School in Camberley during the 1940s. I'm also on the photo taken at the old Catholic Church. [Oct 12]
From Susanna :
Bagshot Hall was built in 1840 by John Samuel Yeats who was my Great Great Great grandfather. I should be interested in knowing more about it. [Aug 17]
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