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Having recently (April 2012) read Sir Hubert Miller’s personal scrapbook, we now know that St. Joseph’s Church in Lower Froyle was actually built
in 1879/80 on this small plot of land opposite
the “Prince of Wales” Public House. The “Mission Church of St Joseph” was dedicated at a special service on Thursday, March 18th, 1880 - you can read a report from the Hants & Berks Gazette of March 27th by following the link below. Sir Hubert had been concerned that all should be encouraged to attend church and the idea was to save the villagers of Lower Froyle the walk of a mile or two to St. Mary’s in Upper Froyle. It was supposed to be a temporary church until a permanent one could be built on other land in the village. However the Great War of 1914 delayed this and the land allocated for the permanent church was requisitioned to build council houses, so Lower Froyle never did get its new church. The building was finally demolished in 1967, and the site is now part of the garden of the appropriately named “Church Cottage”. |