About Us
For centuries it can't have been easy being a Roman Catholic in Brixham.
it was here in 1688 that the protestant King William of Orange landed with 35,000 troops to being the march on London which ended hopes of a catholic succession.
The fishing community which flourished in the 19th century remained overwhelmingly Protestant and low-church at that. During the last year of his life Henry Francis Lyte, vicar of All Saints and author of the hymn Abide With Me, lamented of the defection of many of his congregation to the Plymouth Brethren.
But the Roman Catholic community of Brixham did come together and worshipped for many years at a small church in Cavern Hill.
By the mid-60s, the congregation was growing and it looked to pastures new. On a former crochet lawn in New Road they built the Church to Our Lady, Star of the Sea. My old friend Tony Kent Tells me it cost £46,000, which they borrowed and then paid off over the next nine years. It opened in 1967 and was consecrated on March 8th, 1972.
It is an unusual building with a car park on the roof.
Our pictures today recall those early days, landmark ones for the Roman Catholics of Brixham.
The old church on Carven Hill became Bovey School but is now used by the Brixham Operatic and Dramatic Society
The new Presbytery
Before the building of the new church the plot already contained a house. This was incorporated in to the new designs and was to become the new presbytery.
The building of the new church now largely hides the original home which is still on the site and was cleverly worked in to the design of the new church. Shown here in this period photograph it is not possible to how small the plot is and how much ingenuity was required in order to both satisfy the planners and to provide the size of church which was required.
Our Grand Plans
An early sketch of the plans, the church wraps its self around the site in order to gain all the space that is needed by the growing numbers.
Seen here is a sketch provided by the original architects in order to show the site layout. it can be seen that the old house has now become the Presbytery and integral to the church. The tower was intended to house lifting gear so that parishioners would be able to use a lift from the car park on the roof down to the church on the first floor. The car park on the roff was a cleaver design choice which was made in order to satisfy the planning requirements. This in turn lead to the church being placed on the first floor where that was more available space and the parish hall being located at the ground level.