St Monica's Priory, Hoxton

Introduction

The church is included as part of a rare surviving composition of church, school and priory by an important architect.

Architecture and furnishings

The church has an eight-bay nave with aisles and a western gallery, with a timber arcade supporting trusses and exposed rafters over a rose-window clerestorey. The chancel is two bays with paired arcade and lancets. The west front is a tight composition with a Perpendicular west window over a central door, between two massive buttresses and oversailed by a narrow bellcote. A single-bay Lady chapel was added in 1880 by John Young.

Underneath the gallery a door gives access to the priory. The east window has stained glass of 1924 by M E Aldrich Rope. The altar and reredos are attributed to Edward Welby Pugin. The church is built of stock brick with some stone dressings and a slate roof supported on a timber arcade. Statues of Saint Augustine and Saint Monica stand to the left and right of the high altar.

Parish life

The Augustinian community offers a 'come and see' experience for those curious about the friars' way of life. The community of friars accepts prayer requests from visitors. The church is a grade II listed 19th-century church designed by Edward Welby Pugin and built between 1864 and 1866.