St. Aldhelm's Roman Catholic Church, Malmesbury

While Charles Dewell was serving with the 91st Regiment in Italy he fell ill and during his recovery converted to Catholicism. At a later posting in India he met Father Larive and asked him to start a mission in Malmesbury. Father Larive arrived in the town in 1865 and on 14th April 1867 the first mass since the Reformation took place in Cross Hayes House, which had been inherited by Dewell. A site was bought for a church and the house later became a convent for the Order of St. Joseph of Annecy in 1884 when they took charge of the school.

A new church was built in 1875, in a plain 14th century style, and the first church was then used as the school until 1933. Before the First World War a new sanctuary was built and central heating and electric lighting installed. After 1925 a new altar and pulpit were added while after the Second World War a sacristy was built and the old schoolroom demolished.