Shrine Church of Our Lady of Consolation and St Francis

The Shrine Church of Our Lady of Consolation and St Francis stands on the corner of Steyning Road and Park Lane in West Grinstead, a village east of the A24 in West Sussex. Built in 1875–76 to a Gothic Revival design by John Aloysius Crawley, it later received additions in 1896 and 1964 from Frederick Arthur Walters. The church holds a Grade II listing and is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title Our Lady of Consolation. A pontifical decree of coronation was granted by Pope Leo XIII in 1893, marking its special status. The site occupies ground once home to a pre-Reformation shrine to the Virgin Mary. The church’s history reflects the endurance of Catholic worship in the area after the Reformation. Local recusant families like the Carylls maintained a private chapel at West Grinstead Manor, which later became the presbytery. The mission was served by Jesuits from 1710 to 1754 and then by Franciscans until 1815. In 1863, French priest Jean-Marie Denis revived the mission, built the church, reopened the school, and established St Juliana’s Priory beside it. The church was conceived as a ‘miniature French cathedral’, with funds raised across France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Inside, the nave and aisles form the heart of the 1876 building, while the 1896 sanctuary, side chapels and bell turret were added by Walters. A tower was built in 1964 in memory of Hilaire Belloc, who is buried here. The churchyard also contains the grave of philanthropist Nona Byrne. Beyond the church lies St Hugh’s Charterhouse, the only post-Reformation Carthusian monastery in the United Kingdom. Pilgrimages have taken place every July since 1880, first from Southwark and later from the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton.