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The Mission in Beccles goes back to 1870, when
a recent convert, John Kenyon, who was staying
at nearby Gillingham Hall went to Mass in Bungay
and wanted to build a church in Beccles. Land
was purchased on high ground on the edge of the
then town where a house was begun in 1889 in
which Mass was initially said. As the congregation
grew, building started on the present church
in 1898, which was opened in 1901 and consecrated
in 1908. It was dedicated to St Benet Biscop,
one of the patrons of the English Benedictine
Congregation.
The church was planned on the lines of a minster
church, in the Romanesque style, with a monastic
priory envisaged for it that was never realised.
The architect was Frederick Banham, a local Catholic
architect buried in the graveyard. Although a
Benedictine community was never established,
the church has remained in the care of the monks
of Downside.
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