Church & History

The parish of Kenton came into being in 1927 as a Mission District carved out of the territory of a number of local parishes, particularly St John, Greenhill.

Its Missioner and later Vicar, Fr F R Johnson, known locally as ‘Pop’, came in 1927 and stayed until 1964 – in many ways this parish and the church of St Mary, designed by the renowned architect, J Harold Gibbons and consecrated in 1936, were his life’s work. It was founded in and has stood in the tradition of the Oxford Movement.

There have been seven vicars since Fr Johnson: Fr Hedley Montague Shearing (8.5.1965 – 6.11.1973); Fr Peter Jermyn (5.6.1973 – 26.8.1982); Fr Richard Brown (11.1.1984 – 19.3.1994); Fr David Sherwood (20.12.1994 – 28.2.2006), Fr Giles Pinnock (9.9.2006 – 31.10.2010), Fr Edward Lewis (20.5.2011 – 31.12.2021), and Fr Richard Norman (23.9.2022 – present) and numerous Assistant Priests and Curates.

You can view a selection of photographs from our parish’s history here.