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Bermondsey
St Hugh
(Charterhouse-in-Southwark)
(a Conventional District within the Cathedral parish)

Introduction to the church

"St Hugh's is a bit inconspicuous" was how the church was once described. Just off Long Lane and in the shadow of the Guy's Hospital tower and the new sky-high Tabard Square development, the building looks more like a school or factory than a church.

But then, it isn't just a church. St Hugh's is part of Charterhouse-in-Southwark (C-i-S), a mission established in 1885 by old boys of the Surrey-based public school, to provide food, clothes and spiritual support to the slum dwellers of Bermondsey. It was part of the Settlement movement of which several other examples survive in Walworth and Camberwell.

Today, St Hugh’s, the parish church of West Bermondsey, has a growing multi-ethnic congregation which reflects the community in the surrounding estates, and which includes an unusually large number of children and young people.

The interior of the church was re-ordered in the early 1994 with money from the Church Urban Fund. It now houses five important paintings by Adam Boulter, ‘Spirituality in the Wilderness’, which draw on images from five major world faiths. The Chancellor’s judgment in allowing a faculty for the introduction into a Christian church of images from other faiths was a landmark decision, first made conditionally in 1999 and made permanent in 2004.

As well as its own Sunday School, Junior Church and Sunday afternoon club, members of the congregation run a Friday evening youth club for local young people. The other key feature of the church’s outreach is the long-established Wednesday morning Nearly New Shop, selling low-priced good quality clothing. ‘The best second-hand shop in Bermondsey’. After a long period of fund-raising, St Hugh’s bought a minibus in 2005 which is in regular use and is available for use by others.

The relationship between St Hughs and Charterhouse-in-Southwark has varied over the years. Today we see one another as partners and we are keen to develop closer working links in the future. At a time of increasing social change, we believe that together we will continue to play an important part in serving the people of the local community.

Today, the upper floors of the 'Rainbow Building' above the church are used for a range of CiS projects: parent and toddlers group, a youth centre and a traditional gymnasium for five-a-side football, basketball etc. as well as CiS offices. With Charterhouse's other sites it provides the focus for community facilities for children and families, young people, pensioners, the Asian community and women in the area.

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