About our Church
Our Church, its history, location, times of service and more
Mass Times
Contact Information
Church Location
The Church is located towards the end of Fir Tree Grove, on the East side of the road.
Click the following links to focus the map on each location.
Gallery
A few photos to help you find your way inside. Click on the thumbnails to view larger images.
History
Saint Margaret Of Scotland Patron of Our Parish
A Scottish Queen born in Hungary may seem an unusual saint to be patroness of a London suburban parish, but Margaret was in fact very English in her origins. She belonged to the royal house of Wessex and was the great niece of Saint Edward the Confessor. Fleeing North after the Battle of Hastings in 1066 she took refuge in the court of King Malcolm III (the same Malcolm who deposed and succeeded the infamous Macbeth). Margaret captivated Malcolm and they were married in 1070. Her influence softened her husband's temper and manner, and turned him into one of the most virtuous kings ever to have occupied the throne of Scotland.
What she did for her husband, Margaret also did in great measure for her adopted country, promoting the arts of civilisation and encouraging education and religion. She made it her constant effort to obtain worthy priests and teachers for all parts of the country. With her husband she founded several churches, notably that of the Holy Trinity at Dunfermline.
God blessed the couple with a family of six sons and two daughters whom Margaret brought up with the utmost care, instructing them herself in the Christian faith. Through her daughter Matilda who married Henry I of England, she became an ancestor in direct line of our present Queen. Margaret's own private life was austere, she ate and slept sparingly and was generous in her aims and humble in her service of the poor.
In 1093 William II invaded Scotland and Malcolm was slain by treachery. By this time Margaret too was on her deathbed and died only four days after her husband on 16th November 1093. Canonized in 1250 she was named patroness of Scotland in 1673.
Our parish connection with St Margaret comes through Bishop William Brown who was auxiliary bishop in Southwark for many years, during the era of Archbishop Amigo. Bishop Brown was himself a Scot and had a great devotion to his country's patroness. From his crozier came the ikon of Saint Margaret, now set into the wall of the church. It was presented to us by the present Archbishop at the church's dedication in 1981.