Catholic Church in the United Kingdom was not yet a reality, particularly in Ireland, where the Protestant Ascendancy was still in full force. The Treaty of Union of 1707, like the Act of Settlement, had stated that no "Papist" could succeed to the throne. Restrictions on the civil rights of Catholics only began to change with the passing of the Papists Act 1778, which allowed them to own property, inherit land and join the British Army, although even this measure resulted in the backlash of the Gordon Riots of 1780, showing the depth of continuing anti-Catholic feeling. After 1790, a new mood emerged as thousands of
St Anne's Roman Catholic Church, Laxton Place Damian Thompson, the religious affairs commentator for "The Daily Telegraph" and a prominent supporter of the ordinariate, has rejected this proposal and has described St Anne's as a "cross between a public lavatory and a Christian Science Reading Room". Thompson preferred that St Etheldreda's Church in Ely Place, the only medieval Roman Catholic church in London, to be used by the ordinariate. St Anne's Roman Catholic Church, Laxton Place St Anne's is a Roman Catholic church in Laxton Place near Regent's Park in London. The church was constructed in 1970 but fell into disuse at the turn of the 21st