At the intersection of the Oxford and Radley roads in Abingdon is a group of buildings – church, cloister, presbytery, school and former convent – that have developed over the years for the benefit of Abingdon's Catholic community. They have their origin in an organisation or ‘mission’ which was created in the 1850s largely by the efforts of three men. William Wilkinson Wardell was one of them and was the initial architect. The other two were Sir George Bowyer, the generous donor, and Father John Paul O’Toole, the first minister to the mission.
