St Raphael, Kingston upon Thames
St Raphael, Kingston upon Thames
St Raphael's on Portsmouth Road, Kingston upon Thames, is a Grade II* Roman Catholic church by Charles Parker, built in 1846–48 as a private chapel and later the first public Catholic church in Kingston.
- Location
- Kingston upon Thames, Greater London
- Country
- England
- County
- Greater London
- City / town
- Kingston upon Thames
- Address
- Portsmouth Road, Kingston upon Thames, Greater London, KT1 2NA
- Postcode
- KT1 2NA
- Built
- 1846–48
- Consecrated
- 28 September 2012
- Architect
- Charles Parker
- Denomination
- Catholic Church
- Dedication
- Raphael
- Diocese
- Southwark
- Parish
- Kingston
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- Italianate with Early Christian and Renaissance influences
- Materials
- Ashlar (Bath stone) with pantiled roof; flanking wings of brick with stone dressings
- Grid reference
- TQ 178 683
- Opening hours
- Sorry, there are no regular opening times for this church.
- Access
- Non-accessible toilets in church. Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby. Accessible toilets in church
Overview
Historic England lists a church of 1847–48 by Charles Parker for Alexander Raphael, MP for St Albans. The fabric is ashlar with a pantiled roof: a three-bay nave with aisles, a lower shorter chancel, and a three-stage central western tower with tripled round arches and a pyramidal roof. Aisle windows are two-light and round-headed with a Corinthian column between the lights; the clerestory has triple round-arched windows. Brick wings with stone dressings and pantile roofs flank the church to north and south, originally the priest's house and school.
Victorian Web and the parish history record that Raphael, the first Catholic Sheriff of London after Emancipation and the first British-Armenian MP, built the church as a family chapel and named it for St Raphael. He died in November 1850; his nephew Edward opened it to the public. After the Second World War the building was sold to the Diocese of Southwark. Wikipedia records consecration on St Raphael's Day, 28 September 2012. The church is in the Archdiocese of Southwark.