Ogbourne Maizey Roman Catholic Chapel (St George & St Patrick’s)
As the racing stables in Maizey had evolved over the years an increasing proportion of Catholic stable lads came from Ireland. To provide a convenient site of worship, in 1911 George Edwardes erected a substantial building close to Bonita. Timber framed with corrugated iron sheet cladding, it measured approximately 60 by 25feet.
The chapel was served initially by priests of the Roman Catholic Parish of the Immaculate Conception in Devizes, although by the late 1960’s Fr. Besant from Marlborough celebrated Mass every other Sunday. Although built for and predominantly used by the stables, congregants from Marlborough came for the early mass. It appears that the chapel often housed a larger congregation than St Andrew’s (CofE) church.
Weddings of both locals and, during WW2, American servicemen were carried out in the chapel. It is likely that the WW2 Italian Prisoners of War held in the camp at Bonita would have attended mass there.
With falling use, the building was demolished in the early 1970’s and the site sold off for private development by the estate.