St Winefride's Catholic Church

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St Winefride Church is Roman Catholic Parish church in South Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton. It was founded as a chapel of ease of Sacred Heart Church, Wimbledon by the Society of Jesus in 1905. It is Grade II listed building and was designed by Frederick Walters.HistoryIn 1877, The Jesuits came to Wimbledon at the request of Edith Arendrup, a member of the Courtauld family, from Roehampton where they had their novitiate, Manresa House. She asked that Mass be said in her house until a church was built. The Jesuits also went to South Wimbledon for the Catholics there and said Mass in St Mary's School. In 1884, Edith Arendrup commissioned the construction of Sacred Heart Church in the area. It was finished in 1887 and designed by Frederick Walters.By 1903, the number of Catholics were growing in South Wimbledon and it was decided to build another church in the parish to accommodate to increasing congregation. The same architect of Sacred Heart Church, Frederick Walters, was asked to design the church. Construction started in 1904 and finished in 1905. The Jesuit influence on the church is shown by there being a statue of Saint Ignatius close to a statue of the parish patron, Saint Winefride.