St Dunstan's Church, Woking

St Dunstan's Church
The church from the southwest
St Dunstan's Church Location in Surrey
Coordinates: 51°19′09″N 0°32′43″W / 51.3192°N 0.5453°W / 51.3192; -0.5453
OS grid reference	TQ0147858775
Location	Shaftesbury Road, Woking, Surrey
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	St-Dunstans.org
History
Dedication	Dunstan
Dedicated	22 October 2008
Architecture
Status	Active
Functional status	Parish church
Completed	8 August 2008
Administration
Deanery	Woking
Diocese	Arundel and Brighton
Province	Southwark

St Dunstan's Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Woking, Surrey. At first, it was built in 1899. It was replaced by a larger church in 1923 and again in 2008. The most recent church was dedicated in 2008 by the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. It is situated on the corner of Shaftesbury Road and Pembroke Road outside the centre of Woking. It is the only Catholic church in the town and is the centre of the deanery of Woking in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton.

In 1850, there was the Restoration of the English Catholic hierarchy. However, there was no place of worship for Catholics in Woking. Instead, Catholics travelled to Send or to St. Edward the Confessor Church in Sutton Green to celebrate Mass.

In 1899, a Fr W. D. Allanson built an iron church in Percy street, Woking, dedicated to St Dunstan.

In 1923, a Fr. Plummer replaced a Fr. John Peall as parish priest and wanted a new church to be built in the Gothic Revival style. Plans were soon drawn up and on 26 April 1925, Bishop William Brown, Auxiliary Bishop of Southwark and Titular Bishop of Pella of laid the foundation stone at the new site on Heathside Crescent. The church was designed by Joseph Goldie. It was completed on 8 December that year. In 1954, Fr Plummer died and was buried in the grounds of the church.

The church congregation grew during the 20th-century so that other Catholic churches had to be established in the surrounding area. St Hugh's Church in Knaphill was opened in 1907, Our Lady Help of Christians Church in West Byfleet in 1954 and Our Lady Mother of God Church in the Kingfield area of Woking in 1962.