St Anselm’s Development
We are hugely excited to have signed all the necessary agreements for us to start on the development of St Anselm’s, which has been many years in the planning.
The development will see many changes at the rear of the church, including 9 new homes to be built by our partner, Rocco Homes, which will be sold in a year or so. There will also be a new parish centre with a community hall, toilets, kitchen, offices and storage.
Another part of the development will be making much-needed repairs to the fabric of the building that will keep it fit for purpose in the years to come.
Latest Update - march 2026
With Havilland House now demolished, work moved on to an archaeological survey of the site.
Although there would have been a survey carried out at the time Havilland house was built, the land was once the location of the Black Prince’s palace so it is an important historical site.
The survey has now been completed and the site is ready for construction to start. We anticipate that this will take place within the next week or so.
Watch this space!
Meanwhile inside the church itself, with heating fully installed, work has started on renovating the pews.
Thanks to a generous donation from a local benefactor, we have been able to shore up the pews so they can be moved around more easily. We worked with a local carpenter to ensure that the repairs were done respectfully to the original design and so that they will be long lasting. Thanks to this, we can now open the church space for weekly groups for children and young people to play games and build friendships away from screens. Moving the pews has also meant we have been able to host a local voluntary orchestra rehearsals and support the arts.
The next part of making our building fit for purpose will be starting to fix all the leaks in the roof.
A simplified map of the development is shown below
Thank you again to everyone who has partnered with us in funding this work.