Isleworth lies alongside the Thames to the west of London, opposite Richmond and adjacent to the Twickenham Rugby Stadium. The parish of Our Lady of Sorrows and St Bridget of Sweden is one of the smallest in area in the Archdiocese but it is also one of the oldest. What is more, it has a unique and fascinating history, which is the subject of a book The Catholic Community in Isleworth by parishioner and local historian Stuart Bagnall. Stuart’s family have lived in Isleworth for over 100 years and he always sensed that there was something special about the parish in which he was baptised. Although records are disappointingly sparse, Stuart has managed to assemble a story which stretches back to the late 1600s. What began as a domestic chaplaincy in the household of the Earls of Shrewsbury, who had acquired a mansion in Isleworth in about 1675, quickly became a mission to the whole of West Middlesex and the adjacent parts of Surrey. The importance of the Isleworth mission was clearly recognised by the bishops in the calibre of the priests they appointed to serve it. Moreover, it was at one time host to no fewer than four convents of sisters. Only one remains but it is the international headquarters of the Faithful Companions of Jesus, whose founder purchased Gumley House in 1841. Over the years the area served has shrunk as new missions and parishes were founded but Isleworth can justly claim to be the mother church for much of West Middlesex. Local historian Kevin Brown recently discovered in the archives of the Sisters of Nazareth at Hammersmith documents which show that Isleworth had a free standing Catholic chapel built in 1797 on the instructions of the Earl of Shrewsbury, one of the first in southern England. Previously it had been thought that the chapel was located within the privacy of the Earl’s mansion. The church has always been dedicated to Our Lady and St Bridget of Sweden. The adoption of the Swedish saint as patroness arose from the fact that in the late Middle Ages Isleworth was the home of a community of Bridgettine nuns and monks, the only one in England, at Syon Abbey. This stood on the site now occupied by Syon House, a seat of the Duke of Northumberland. What is more, 2015 marks the 600th anniversary of the foundation of that abbey by King Henry V. At the invitation of the Duke, local churches, Catholic, Anglican and Free will celebrate the anniversary with an open air service on the recently rediscovered site of the abbey church on July 19th this year.
