If you have any information, memories or photos of Our Lady of the Forest, please get in touch. This above image is credited to The JFK Library Foundation.
Our now closed sister church of Our Lady of the Forest was officially opened on Hartfield Row, Forest Row in April 1958. It was largely thanks to the generosity and untiring efforts of Mrs Florence McCallum, a parishioner, and of Father Charles Dolman, the parish priest of East Grinstead, that the land was acquired and plans made for the building of the church. Some of the church furnishings came from the Blount family chapel at Imberhorne Manor, which had been sold for redevelopment.
In 1959 Father Dolman, who had been appointed in 1941, and his devoted housekeeper Mary Brown and her husband Albert pulled their private savings and built the Presbytery to accommodate the first resident priest.
On 30 June 1963 Our Lady of the Forest welcomed a most distinguished visitor: President John F. Kennedy who was spending the weekend with Prime Minister Harold McMillan at Birch Grove. A plaque in the church commemorated this occasion, the plaque was subsequently moved to Our Lady and St Peters. Mass is also offered at Our Lady and St Peter each year for the Kennedy family on the anniversary of his visit.
The church closed after the 9am Christmas day Mass in 2009, despite a regular congregation of approximately 90 worshipers. At the time Fr Steven Purnell was ministering to Our Lady and St Peter, St Bernard’s and Our Lady of the Forest while being supported by a rota of retired priests.
Most of the furnishings of the church were sent to the diocese of Yendi in northern Ghana. The ‘Our Lady of the Forest’ statue was sent to The Immaculate Heart of Mary church in Kumasi.
Resources:
- Our Lady of the Forest – Wikipedia
- Village church visited by JFK and Harold Macmillan to close – The Telegraph
- June 30, 1963 – President John F. Kennedy attending Mass at Our Lady of the Forest, Forest Row – YouTube
- Trip to Forest Row, England – JFK Library
