After the Reformation and the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century there is no record of any public Catholic presence in the Medway area for some 250 years until, in the year 1795, a French émigré Priest - one of many forced to flee France after the French Revolution - began a Mission in Brompton.

From that one beginning other churches were gradually opened - St Michael’s in Chatham in 1863 and then into the area then known as New Brompton - an area of relatively new housing built primarily for the workers in the Dockyard. The first priest arrived in the area in about 1888, mainly due to the influence of a family named Arathoon. This priest, Father McMahon, had been ordained in 1885.

The present church complex was started in 1890, probably starting with the house and then the original church/hall/school now named after the first Priest - “McMahon Hall”. The present church dated from 1896. It was opened on 12 May in that year. The second large hall, now called “Scott Hall” after the second Parish Priest, was built during the early 1930s, just before Father (later Canon) McNamara left after over 40 years’ service.

In 1934 the first Mass was said in the then village of Rainham, which was beginning to expand, and the small church (now the Parish Hall) erected then was to last for some 24 years until the present church was built in 1958.

Rainham became a separate parish from Gillingham in 1963. Rainham has itself grown tremendously and in 1973 a Mass centre was established in the Parkwood area. Eventually in 1983 Parkwood became a separate Parish and in 1992 a new church dedicated to St Augustine was built.

In 1956 a site had been bought in what is now Twydall and a church was built there in 1964, being served from Rainham. This building was later to be replaced by the present church erected in 1970.

In 1972 the first parts of the new parish school in Gillingham opened in Greenfield Road and the infants’ school moved, leaving only the junior school in the old premises. In October 1988 the second phase of building meant that the whole school was together again on its new site in Greenfield Road.

Since then some of the old school buildings have been demolished and the opportunity taken to give the parish a much needed car parking facility. At the same time in 1990 an extension was built onto the porch giving direct access from the car park to the church.

Various phases of upgrading have been undertaken since the end of the century and work continues to this day. Indeed at the beginning of 2007 the lease on the Scott Hall was renewed but it necessitated spending £10,000 to cure the damp problem.

During 2006 the entire complex was electrically checked in order to meet strict insurance requirements and the opportunity taken to replace the aged sound system in the church. Sadly interior redecorating in the church has had to be put on hold because the parish has no surplus funds.

Everyone agrees that Our Lady of Gillingham is a beautiful church that largely escaped the overenthusiastic reordering that followed the Second Vatican Council (how many churches can boast a pulpit and altar rails?). If you like our church and would like to see it stand for another 100 years (we celebrated our centenary in 1996) why not make a donation? And if you are a parishioner why not adjust your giving and, if you pay tax, take out a Gift Aid? The church is only standing today because of the generosity of our forebears. X May they rest in peace.

Thank you.

Fr Geoffrey Pointer

Parish Priest

February 2007