St.  Thomas  More  Church. (3)

Another Report on St. Thomas More Church.

During the period from early 1937 to mid-1939 the proposed church for Iford was very much before the parish and many fund raising events were organised to collect funds for it.

The Iford Estate, consisting of about 450 acres and extending from the River Stour up to the top of Pokesdown Hill by King's Park gates and down the centre of which ran Christchurch Road to Iford and beyond, had been purchased in 1898 by the Cooper Dean Estate.

When in 1931 the Boundary of Bournemouth was extended to Iford, housing development commenced in earnest.

The Misses Cooper Dean were mindful of the spiritual as well as the temporal needs of the Estate and they decided that three sites should be reserved for future church buildings, one each for Anglican, Nonconformist and Catholic, these sites all being adjacent to Holdenhurst Avenue.

The estate developed rapidly, especially between Christchurch Road and the railway and in 1937 it was decided that the proposed Catholic Church would be better sited in a more central position.

Accordingly, a site was purchased in Exton Road in January 1938, when Mr T.H. Scott FRIBA was invited to draw up plans for the church.

In October 1938 the building contract was signed with Messrs. Fassnidge and Norris of Uxbridge and work commenced on the 25th October.

On January 1939 the foundation stone of the church, which was to be dedicated to St. Thomas More was laid by Bishop Cotter of Portsmouth. The solemn opening took place on Whit Monday, 29th May, the ceremony being carried out by the Bishop Cotter, Fr. Ingram SJ, Rector of Wimbledon and priests from many local parishes.

Norman Romanesque in style, the church has a wide nave with side aisles. The cost was in the region of £9,000 of which almost £3,000 had been raised. St. Thomas More's was served from Corpus Christi and in October 1939 Fr. Widdowson SJ was appointed to Corpus Christi to work in the Iford District.

In 1949 Iford became a separate parish and Canon Moore became parish priest.