History of the House and Church

The complex of buildings on the site known as Whitefriars, consists of the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (with a small Hall underneath), the Shrine of St. Jude, the Carmelite Priory, and behind them the Carmelite Newsletter Office, and the adjoining printing works (now let out to another organisation). About the office and printing works nothing further need be said beyond noting that they were built between 1935 and 1960 and are just what one would expect, small works premises.

The Carmelite Friars are known as "Whitefriars" because of the white cloaks they wear as part of their religious habit for religious occasions. The Order started with a group of hermits living on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. About 1209 they asked Albert, the Patriarch of Jerusalem for a Rule, or way of life, to follow. In 1242 they were driven out of the Holy Land by the Saracens, and came to Europe. One group settled in Hulne, near Alnwick in Northumberland, and another at Aylesford in Kent. There were Carmelites in this country from that time until the Reformation. The Carmelites came back to England in 1926, and took over responsibility for the parishes of Sittingbourne and Faversham.

The presbytery is the oldest building on the site. It is a fine Georgian House built about 1740, on the steep slope that drops from the level of Tanners Street down to the banks of the West Brook. (On which stand the Newsletter Office buildings, the remains of an orchard and the Car Park.)

The present Church was opened in 1937. The building that is now the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel has had a chequered history. It was built by Williarn Hall in 1861, as a Quaker school, which explains its Churchy appearance. Faversham was the centre of gunpowder making industry that was largely controlled by Quakers. The Directors and foreman of the company were Quakers and they built a school to give their children a religious education in accordance with their beliefs. The original layout included a courtyard under the building, now enclosed to form the Church Hall. On the outside of the pillars supporting the building (now the wall of the Hall) on the North, or car park side, can be seen the grooves and marks where the children used to sharpen their slate pencils.

The house next door is now home to a community of Carmelite Friars, the Prior of the house is also Parish Priest of the Catholic Parish of Faversham. It is a fine old Georgian house and is rated as an ancient monument. From the deeds of adjoining properties it appears that it was build by John Gilbert, who died in 1746. He was a tanner by trade, so the name of the street is no misnomer; evidently his business was prosperous to afford such a splendid new home. His tan yard, it seems, was originally where the Church car park now is, but was moved elsewhere, and the site became a kitchen garden. The house was extensively remodelled inside for use by the governesses (teachers) when the School (now the Church) was built in 1861, but outside remains as it was. It is built to a plan. A good, spacious, well lit sitting room in front, with a small bedroom at the back. It is interesting to observe that for sleeping purposes, school teachers, in those days, did not require over much cubic space.

Underneath the forecourt leading to the house is a vaulted space that used to be a sort of armoury for the local musketry school. It was later devoted to the more peaceful pursuit of making habits for the friars, and Brown Scapulars for members of the Brown Scapular Confraternity. Now it is enclosed and forms part of the 'basement' of the house and is used for the religious education of the children of the parish.

What happened to the Quaker school? The school continued in being until 1907 when the girls moved to amalgamate with, a boys school and so form a new school in new premises (The Ethelbert Road Council School). During the First World War, on April 2nd, 1916, there was an enormous explosion in the local powder works down on the marshes. The gravestone of some 150 victims of the tragedy can still be seen in the local cemetery, where they were only afforded a communal grave. When the war was over, powder making moved north into Scotland.

In 1910 the building was acquired by East Kent Cinemas, and after some alterations opened its doors as the Empire Picture Hall. The screen occupied the place of the main windows in the Church, and the projection shed was in the garden behind the present Calvary. Eventually a new cinema was built in the centre of the town and the building became vacant in 1936.

In 1926 the Carmelites were given charge of the parish of Faversham, with the Church in Plantation Road (built in 1906 to accommodate 65 people!). In 1937 the disused Empire Picture Hall was purchased together with the house and the land and, after conversion, dedicated as the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel superceeding the Church in Plantation Road. The old church, until its demolition in 1963, served as a chapel for the Convent (Plantation House) from which the Notre Dame Sisters conducted a primary school. The cost of the house and the redundant cinema was a mere £900, and so the new Church and Priory of Faversham came into being. That is not to say that the Catholics of the town liked it. They thought that Tanners Street was a bit down market as an area, but as time went on they began ' to see more sense in the proposition. Today, we have in Tanners Street a pleasant little Church that is gradually growing too small for our needs, a fine Priory and garden.