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Oscott College
21/June/2007 Filed in: Jottings
To Oscott yesterday for a meeting of the Midland Catholic History Society. Everyone most kind and hospitable. Excellent papers on the work of Selly Park and the Mercy Sisters in the archdiocese of Birmingham, and a feast of Pugin. The sanctuary is a delight: all gleam and glitter, and some nice medieval panels above the high altar. More delights in the Domestic Chapel, where four newly-restored Flemish altar panels of about 1520 have been hung against a plain white wall. It was good to see the Catholic Church in this country caring for its heritage. We detoured on the way back to visit Brailes. What a gem! The barn chapel (1726) is as plain as a meeting house, but with panelling and altar rails still intact, and pleasing windows. The chapel is reached by an exterior staircase so one has a real sense of what it was like to go to Mass in Penal times.