Church Micro 6779...Sacred Heart
This cache has been placed to bring you to the Polish Church of Sacred Heart of Jesus & St Cuthbert in Bedford. This replaces archived GC5GDBB by pixeltash.
The church looks, superficially, as though it is a Norman building, but looks are deceiving. The present structure was built between 1845 and 1847 to the designs of Bedford architect James Woodroffe in the Neo-Norman style. The new church was consecrated on 8th July 1847.
The church was enlarged several times. Aisles were added by the architect Francis Cranmer Penrose in 1865. In 1876 a cloister porch was added to the west end and a new organ chamber built on the north side of the chancel and the following year the new organ chamber was converted into a vestry with a new chamber being built on the south side of the chancel. A single bell, hung in 1900, replaced the bell of 1831 which had adorned the former church.
The church was closed in 1974 and the parish united with that of Saint Peter de Merton. The church was declared redundant on 22nd October 1975 and afterwards was used by the Serbian Orthodox community in Bedford until being purchased by the Harpur Trust who presented it to the Polish population of Bedford, whereupon its name was changed and the church used as a Roman Catholic church called the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Saint Cuthbert, which it remains at the time of writing.
Thanks to the Bedfordshire Government archive website for the above information.
The cache is not at the published coordinates.
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