In 1893, a Catholic Mission Hall was founded in the town – it included a small church and a school house.
The aim, however, was to build a proper church and a site was found, on the corner of Magdalen Road and Sea Road. The money was raised and the Roman Catholic Church of St Mary Magdalene was finished in 1906 and opened on 24th October 1907. The building that had housed the old church and the school became the church hall.
The church was designed by a convert to Catholicism, Arthur Young, who was born in 1853, in Stamford, Lincolnshire – in 1877, he started his own architectural firm, designing churches and chapels.
The Mission Hall continued to be used as a Catholic school until St Mary’s School, at Nazareth House, was opened in 1961.