In the Middle Ages, the area now served by St Joseph’s was split between All Saints in Kingston and St John the Baptist in Old Malden. The Domesday Book (1086) mentions a chapel at Old Malden, thought to be the present site of St John’s Church, which was a small village owned by the Augustinians of Merton Priory. Walter de Merton (Chancellor of England under Henry III), established a college of priests in Malden to look after the property belonging to Merton College Oxford, and in 1309, Richard Lovekyn founded the Chapel of St Mary Magdalene in Kingston (on the corner of the present Tiffin’s School), for the celebration of a daily Mass for the Faithful departed. Our ‘local martyr’ is Blessed William Way, martyred at Kingston on 23rd September 1588. During penal times, Catholics in Malden were served either by priests from Richmond (which as the home of Queen Henrietta Maria, the Catholic French wife of Charles I enjoyed royal protection), or Cheam (a local recusant house), until the hierarchy was restored with the new Diocese of Southwark in 1850. Responsibility for New Malden first lay with the Parish Priest of Kingston, until St Raphael’s in Surbiton was opened in 1855.
The parish was brought up by Father Casper Lutz when in 1905 he was particularly interested in New Malden. With the support of Bishop Peter Amigo, they bought a property on the corner of Kingston Road and Montem Road. Soon after, they started developing the church. They put in a new Mass Centre with a small chapel and a sacristy on the other side. By 1915, there were 100-150 regular worshippers and the space was becoming small so in 1921 they started to construct a new church. As well as this, the church was originally dedicated to St Egbert but changed to St Joseph after some agreements. When about 500-600 worshippers were at St Joseph's, the rank changed from Mission to Parish by a new priest, Father Hugh Hunt. During 1949, some new changes were being installed such as side altars, statues and other apparatus needed for a parish church. Bishop Cyril Cowderoy consecrated the church in 1954, with a newly hung up bell which alerts people that Mass is starting. In more recent times, a 'new' Parish Centre was opened which is normally used for coffee and events, groups and activities set up by the parish.
The geocache is a small magnetic nano located on the church boundary/wall. Tweezers are needed in order to get the log out and make sure to replace the cache as found to avoid it getting muggled.
Cache placed with the kind permission of St Joseph's Church
If you would like to add to the Church Micro series yourself then please look here
http://churchmicro.co.uk/
There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page that can be found at
http://www.15ddv.me.uk/geo/cm/index.html
