Diocese of Westminster

Roman Catholic Parishes of

Our Lady Immaculate, Limehouse

& St Edmund, Millwall

A History of St. Edmund’s, Millwall

 

 

There has been a Roman Catholic place of worship on the Isle of Dogs since 1846. The origins of that early church are obscure, but there can be little doubt that it was established to cater for the growing industrial population of the Island, which by 1851 reached five thousand, originating from all parts of the British Isles. It was called St Edward's and stood in Moiety Street, towards the northern end of West Ferry Road. It is referred to as a "school chapel" in the history books, and was served first from Wade Street Chapel and after 1856 from St Mary & St Joseph, Poplar. By the 1870's St Edward's had become too small and dilapidated to serve its congregation. Cardinal Manning described the old church as having had "a broken roof, unglazed windows and cracked walls".

Now, as he gave his address at the opening ceremony of the first new St Edmund's in August 1875, the Cardinal found himself in "a magnificent building", a new brick building with a semi-circular high apse, uniquely decorated with painted murals depicting scenes from the lives of saints. The new church could accommodate two hundred and fifty people, and had come into being through what Cardinal Manning described as "the individual exertions of an energetic, zealous and self-denying priest". This was Father Biemans, the first rector, one of a number of Dutch and Flemish priests who worked in the East End in that period.