Milestones in the History of our Parish
1783 the Vicar of Abingdon in his returns to the
Bishop: “Are there any reputed papists in your
parish?” “One only, - old and very poor”
1850
Conversion of Sir George Bowyer, Knight of Malta,
benefactor of our Church and school, to Catholicism
1854 Appointment of first Missionary Rector
(Parish Priest) of Abingdon by Bishop Thomas Grant
of Southwark
1857 Solemn opening of the
Chancel of the Church Establishment of St. Edmund’s
School in the Sacristy, later moving to Friends’
Meeting House
1858 Consecration of the
Cemetery
1860 Arrival of the Sisters of Mercy
in Abingdon; establishment of Convent at ‘Mountjoy’
at Northcourt
1865 Opening of Girls’ Boarding
School in Convent Building of Church completed and
solemn opening
1873 St. Edmund’s School
completed and opened
1882 Diocese of
Portsmouth formed
1883 Convent Chapel
solemnly blessed and opened
1954 St. Edmund’s
ceases to be an ‘all age’ school & becomes a primary
school
Inauguration of the shrine of Our Lady of
Abingdon and blessing of the Statue by Archbishop
John Henry King
1957 Centenary and
Consecration of the Church of Our Lady and St.
Edmund by the Bishop of Portsmouth
1961 Phase
1 of the new St. Edmund School officially opened by
Bishop Holland
1971 The Deanery passes from
Berkshire to Oxfordshire
1982 New Parish
Centre, former St. Edmund’s school, blessed
1990 ‘Abingdon Alive’, inauguration of the Church in
Abingdon
1991 Pilgrimage to Pontigny, ’St.
Edmund’s burial place, to attend
inauguration
of the plaque given by Parish to Abbey at Pontigny
1998 Parish Day as part of preparation for the
Millennium
2006 Our Lady and St Edmund's became part of the
Thames Isis Pastoral Area
2011 Sisters of Mercy left the Convent
Sisters of Mercy
The Community of the Sisters of Mercy was involved
in teaching and in Parish visiting at Our Lady and
St Edmund of Abingdon.
History
In 1859 Father John O’Toole, Parish priest in
Abingdon, asked Bishop Grant (Southwark) for some
Sisters to found a Convent in
Abingdon.
Much change and development
has taken place since 1860 with Sisters engaged in
teaching in the parish school, in their own Private
School which comprised of both boarders and day
pupils and boys and girls.
On June
3rd1999 the Community moved from the Convent on
Oxford Road to Lismore Lodge, 34 St. John’s Road and
1996 saw the first lay Headmistress at
Our Lady’s Convent Senior School
and the first
lay Headmaster at
Our Lady’s Convent Junior School
in 2007. This coincided with changes in the
community that comprised of three Sisters in
residence, one on Sabbatical and one taking care of
her mother. The presence of the Sisters remained
vibrant in schools, Parish and Diocese until 2011,
when the last two Sisters, Sister Helen Sheehy and
Sister Monica Sheehy, two siblings, left Abingdon.
Sister Monica was Headmistress at Our Lady’s for 16
years before retiring in the mid 90s and is now in a
community in Derby, while Sister Helen moved to
Alnwich in Northumberland.
Click here for the full story
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