The Catholic Church of The Sacred Heart, Tisbury

There had been a substantial number of Roman Catholics in Tisbury since the Reformation, under the protection of the Arundells of Wardour. It was the largest concentration in the county and they worshipped at the chapel of All Saints in Wardour Castle. In 1897 Lady Anne Lucy Arundell gave a site for a church at the lower end of the High Street and her husband, the 12th Lord Arundell, gave the stone, provided the parishioners quarried and carted it. Money for the building came from voluntary subscriptions and gifts, and the foundation stone was laid on 3rd November 1898. It was built as a chapel of ease for Wardour and was built in a plain Gothic style from a design by Rev. Canon A.J. Scoles. With a chancel, nave and north Lady Chapel, 200 people could be accommodated and there is a great richness of interior decoration. In 1934 the house to the south was acquired for use as a presbytery and the church was consecrated and declared the parish church for the district of Tisbury, remaining a separate Parish until 1966. From 1934 the church had resident clergy. (‘A HIstory of the Parish of Tisbury and Wardour’)