ABOUT THE PARISH 

The Sacred Heart is a way of describing and talking about the love of God for men and women. While an ancient idea, rooted in scripture, it came to the fore in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in response to movements that suggested that salvation was difficult and only for the few. The Feast of the Sacred Heart is observed each year on the Friday after Trinity Sunday. The stained glass window above the north entrance to the church shows a traditional depiction of the Sacred Heart.


Churches are important for many Christians, and for Catholics in particular. They are not simply places to meet one another or to pray but are places that represent Jesus, the Son of God, and in which we might meet him. They are both the house of God and the house of the People of God. They are set aside as a place dedicated wholly for the worship of God.

The church building is a reminder of the continuing presence of God amongst his people.


  • The most important symbol in the church is the 'altar,' standing at the centre of the church and used only during the celebration of Mass. It is dressed with a white cloth and with candles and contains the relics of a saint. The 'mensa' (top) shows the marks where it was anointed with oil as part of the consecration of the church.


  • Behind the altar is the 'tabernacle' containing the 'Blessed Sacrament' – considered to be the “Real Presence” of Jesus. Bread and Wine are consecrated at Mass, become the body and blood of Jesus and are reserved so that 'Holy Communion' can be taken to the sick and dying. Since they are the strongest sign of Jesus, they are always shown the worship (reverence) due to God himself, and this is why Catholics will 'genuflect' (bend a knee) in the church. Near it (on the right hand side of the Sanctuary) burns the red 'Sanctuary Lamp,' which announces God's presence in the sacrament.


  • On the rear wall is shown a large image of the Risen Jesus, bearing the wounds of his passion. The depiction of Jesus in priestly robes was common in churches before the Middle Ages.


  • The doors of the church are a reminder of Jesus who is the 'Good Shepherd,' “the door through which those who follow him enter and are safe, go in and go out and find good pasture.”


  • On the left of the 'sanctuary' is the 'Baptistry,' containing the 'Baptismal Font,' and 'Paschal (Easter) Candle.' It also contains a picture of the baptism of Jesus.


  • At the entrance to the church you will find small bowls ('Stoops') containing holy water, as a reminder of the font in which we become Christians by baptism. When coming into church people will put their hand in the water and make the sign of the cross as a reminder of their own baptism.


  • The walls of the church carry 12 'Consecration Crosses' – engraved crosses and candle sconces – indicating those places where the walls of the church were anointed during its consecration.


  • The 'Stations of the Cross' are used as a form of meditative prayer in which the story of Jesus’ death is remembered. (Pilate condemns Jesus to die; Jesus accepts his cross; Jesus falls for the first time; Jesus meets his mother, Mary; Simon of Cyrene  helps  Jesus  to  carry  the  cross;   Veronica
  • wipes the face of Jesus; Jesus falls for the second time; Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem; Jesus falls for the third time; Jesus is stripped of his clothes; Jesus is nailed to the cross; Jesus dies on the cross; Jesus is taken down from the cross; Jesus is placed in the tomb.)


  • The church contains 3 statues, one of Mary, the Mother of God (front right), one of St Joseph, the spouse of Mary (front left) and St Thomas of Canterbury (at the back right). This latter came from the small Catholic church in Steels Lane, Oxshott (now Canterbury Mews). Mary is important as the Mother of Jesus and also as his first and best disciple.


  • On the right hand side of the church are two small rooms set aside for celebrating the 'Sacrament of Reconciliation' (often simply called “confession”) with pictures of the Good Shepherd and the Return of the Prodigal Son etched on the glass of the doors.

Church Architecture

The church was designed by Henry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel (1887-1959), one of England’s most revered 20th century architects.


A multi-talented man, he was a fine musician, architectural critic and wit. From 1933 to 1936 he was Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford; in 1936 he was appointed Director of the Architectural Association but left after a year or two; and from 1937 to 1939 he was President of the RIBA.


As an architect he is generally considered most successful as a designer of churches.

.



  • A brief history

    1912 – Holly Lodge on the High Streets becomes a house for the priest and a place for celebrating Mass. Over subsequent years Mass was then said at Spencer House, Ham Manor and the Royal Oak Hotel.


    1930 – Temporary Church (Our Lady and St Bridget of Sweden) built in Cedar Road.


    1937 – Sisters of the 'Order of the Company of Mary Our Lady' establish a Convent and a School (Notre Dame) at Burwood House.


    1938 – Current site (Between Streets) purchased (£1,750)


    1939 – Presbytery built at 25 Between Streets (£1,300)


    1949 – Chapel of St Thomas of Canterbury opened in Oxshott.


    1954 – Mrs Sanders gives £5,000 for building fund


    1957 – Building begins to design of H.S Goodhart-Rendell.


    1958 – Church opened on 28th October


    1961 – Church consecrated on 13th September


    1978 – First Parish Hall built on present site


    2015 – New Parish Centre completed


    The Sunday community at the Sacred Heart currently numbers around 350 people.


  • More about the Church Designer

    Goodhart-Rendel was born into the highest echelons of society. Precociously talented, he studied music at Cambridge, but soon moved to architecture and set up his own flourishing practice. Honours and distinctions led to an unhappy stint (1935 – 38) as Director of Education at the AA in its most radical period. He converted to Roman Catholicism in 1936, and in 1945 inherited the Hatchlands estate, where he entertained architectural writers including Betjeman and Summerson. In his architecture he ploughed a lonely furrow. Following Viollet-le-Duc and the French theorists, he practised a structural rationalism that could embrace modern technologies. But he was the first to appreciate the muscular polychromy of the mid-Victorians, and often clothed his structures in patterns of brick. He was pragmatic about style, believing that a building should grow out of its circumstances and brief, yet he loved quirky geometries – we saw plenty of star-shapes and polygons. His book English Architecture Since the Regency (1953) is full of maverick judgements.[1]


    In the Catalogue of Works at the end of H S Goodhart-Rendel 1887-1959 edited by Alan Powers Sacred Heart, Cobham is described in this way:


    The church has a typical Goodhart-Rendel plan, expressed in classical forms inside and out with Georgian Gothic windows and small-scale Doric columns.  Simple barrel vaults of fibrous plaster spring from a reduced entablature, with passage aisles exploiting a Lutyenesque ‘disappearing pilaster.’. The logic of the plan creates internal space and external modelling unlike any previous classical church, with an American flavour in the white-boarded cupola, and half-hipped gables recalling Philip Webb. The church demonstrates Goodhart-Rendel’s belief in the relativity of style, presumably chosen in this case as a comment on the prettiness of the surrounding suburbia.


    .

  • Taking Stock Study

    The 2005 'Taking Stock' study considered that in the light of the church’s unique style and largely intact interior a good case could be made for its inclusion in the government’s List of Buildings of Special Architectural and Historical Interest.


    While there are many in the area who have never been inside there are plenty of others who drop in during the day to light a candle and or for some quiet prayer.

  • The Catholic Community

    The most important meaning of the church is seen when people gather together to celebrate the Mass (or Eucharist) – Jesus’ gift of himself to God the Father and to us in the form of bread and wine, saving us by our sharing in his death and resurrection. At those times Jesus is present in the gathered assembly, in the proclamation of the Scriptures, in the priest and most especially under the appearance of bread and wine now become his body and blood.


    Even at other times there is a lot here that represents God’s presence among us through Jesus Christ.

  • Notes on the work of Art

    If you know the origins of any of the art works in the church, please do let our Parish Priest know and we can include them in this guide. It has been suggested that the stations of the cross and statues are the work of one of the sisters at Minster Abbey, Kent.


    The two manual organ was built by Kingsgate Davidson & Co in 1961 and renovated by B.C. Shepherd and Sons in 2015.