Brief History of Petersfield Parish

On April 5th 1890 Mr Cave bought an acre of land in Station Road Petersfield from Mr Henry Woods who became the contractor under the supervision of Mr John Kelly, an architect based in Leeds and London, charged with the construction of a basilica style redbrick church and presbytery.

The old iron chapel was moved from Ditcham to the presbytery garden (where the garage now is) for use until the completion of the church.

On October 13th 1890 the Rev. Francis Larive and the Rev. John Meynet, Missionaires of St Francis de Sales, took charge of the Petersfield Mission and both priests assisted Fr A Gasquet (later Cardinal Gasquet) at Benediction at Ditcham to celebrate the opening of the Mission. Forty-four people attended.

In November, a small school dedicated to St Phillip was opened in Park Barn Cottages for the local children with eleven children attending.

On Easter Monday, March 30th 1891, Bishop Vertue, the first Bishop of Portsmouth, blessed the altar of the new church in Petersfield. The church was dedicated to St Laurence the Martyr and the land was made over to the Diocesan Trustees. The congregation was about forty people.

In June 1892 Laurence Trent Cave was received into the Church at Brompton Oratory and he was confirmed at Westminster by Cardinal Vaughan (above, right) the following November.

Another little school was opened in Petersfield at 60 Station Road in March 1892, dedicated to St Mary. It was closed in 1898 – Sandringham road and a modern house were built on the site.

On May 28th 1893 Fr Larive collapsed and died just before Mass. On August 1st the Mission was taken over by the monastery of St Laurence, Ampleforth, and Dom Ildefonsus Cummins came into residence.

He later went on to become Abbot of York. Ditcham was no longer served on Sundays from Petersfield and on December 1893 the Petersfield Church was registered at Somerset House.

In 1895 a sawmill was set up alongside the church and a protest was sent to the owner about the nuisance caused by the noise of the saws and the smoke and dust that it created. The works burned down in 1897 and Mr Cave secured the property to ensure that the peace and quiet of the church would not be disturbed.

Mrs Cave and her sons had the church extended to the original plan with sanctuary apse, two side chapels (dedicated to Our Lady and St Ethelreda), two transepts and a dome. The work was carried out by Mr Thomas Gammon with John Kelly as the architect once more. The founder’s tomb was thus brought within the church and marked with a brass plaque inscribed: “Of your charity pray for the soul of Laurence Trent Cave founder of this church in loving memory of whom his work was completed by his widow Lucy Cave and his sons Charles and Adrian Laurence Cave.”

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