Our Lady of Loreto and St Winefride's, Kew

Our Lady of Loreto and St Winefride's is the parish church for the Roman Catholic parish of Kew Gardens in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The church is located at 1 Leyborne Park in Kew.History and descriptionThe Society of Mary first established a Catholic mission in a temporary chapel at 14 Kew Gardens Road, which opened for public worship on 26 October 1898 with Father Michael Cummins as the first parish priest, and was named Loreto House. The Society of Mary continued to serve the parish until 1984.The church is dedicated to both Our Lady of Loreto and Saint Winefride. The founder of the Society of Mary had made a pilgrimage to the Loreto shrine in Italy in 1833 after asking for the Pope's approval to establish the Society; and Saint Winefride was the favourite saint of one of this church’s principal local benefactors, Miss Frances Elizabeth Ellis (1846–1930) of Clapham Park, whose inheritance from her father, a wealthy Brighton businessman, enabled her to help found many churches.