St Birinus

Introduction

St Birinus Church in Dorchester-on-Thames was built in 1849 by William Wilkinson Wardell for John Davey of Overy.

History

In 1848 John Davey commissioned the young architect William Wilkinson Wardell, himself a convert, to design a church in the Gothic style on land beside the Dower House in Bridge End. The current church of St Birinus was built in 1849 by the Davey family who lived on the opposite banks of the Thame in the ancient hamlet of Overy.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is built of coursed squared limestone rubble with ashlar dressings and a stone-slate roof, in the Decorated style. The interior includes a painted and gilded panelled ceiling in the chancel, a traceried wooden chancel screen with carved rood figures, and contemporary glass by Ward and Nixon.

The church possesses a copy of a 14th-century statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Christ child, restoring the ancient Marian devotion of Our Lady of Dorchester to the parish. The icon of the Baptism of King Cynegils by St Birinus in the Thame in AD 634 was painted by a sister of the Benedictine Abbey of St Cecilia on the Isle of Wight.

The south porch, centrally placed, has a richly moulded doorway beneath a canopied statue of the Virgin and Child. The west wall features cusped single lights flanking a large canopied figure of St Birinus, supported by an angel corbel. The gable parapets have apex crosses, and a tall bellcote with a traceried opening stands over the chancel arch. The contemporary glass in the chancel windows is by Ward and Nixon, and one later stained-glass window is in the nave.

Music and liturgy

The St Birinus Festival was established by the Davey Consort to facilitate wider spiritual engagement of Catholics with their musical and cultural heritage. Each July the parish comes alive for the St Birinus Festival, four days of concerts, sung liturgies, workshops and talks celebrating the rich heritage of Catholic sacred music, in and around St Birinus Church and Dorchester Abbey.

The organ was commissioned from Bernard Aubertin for St Birinus Church by the Davey Consort in 2018. Music for funerals is normally provided by our own organist and choir by arrangement.

Parish life

The parish Society of Saint Vincent de Paul group is available to offer help and support to those suffering. Each July, Anglicans and Roman Catholics together commemorate St Birinus's sermon to King Cynegils with a pilgrimage from Churn Knob in Blewbury to the Abbey church in Dorchester. St Birinus Church is the oldest of the six churches in the Catholic Deanery of South Oxfordshire.

The parish offers catechism classes for children between 7 and 8 after each Easter for First Confession and First Holy Communion. The St Birinus Festival was founded by Ryan and Sophie as a celebration of the music St Birinus brought to England in 634.

Sacraments and pastoral care

The parish SVP group offers help and support to all in the parish, aiming to tackle poverty by providing practical assistance to those in need. The parish SVP is twinned with the SVP conference of Our Lady of Tenderness in Turt, Romania, supporting their work among the poor.

Parishioners who cannot get to church and wish to receive Holy Communion, to ask for prayer for the sick, or would benefit from help the SVP can give may contact the parish priest. Baptism of infants may be arranged by appointment with the parish priest at any time. Those wishing to be married at St Birinus Church are first prepared by a period of instruction with the parish priest. The parish offers support to those hurt by the breakdown of marriage, encouraging them to talk with the parish priest.