Many christians have wanted to walk in the footsteps of Jesus on his journey to the cross. Pilgrims, returning from the Holy Land with stories of their adventures, wanted to remember the 'Way of the Cross' (Via Crucis). Sometimes they erected tableaux of places they had visited in the Holy Land, and those who could not go to the Holy Land were able to make their own Way of the Cross, using these tableaux. From such devotions, the Franciscans promoted the use of scenes from the last journey of Jesus to the cross.

But it was not till the seventeenth century that 'Stations' were placed on church walls. These 'gathering places' (statiónes) were centred around wooden crosses, with a scene from Christ's Passion placed beneath them. Over the years the number of Stations have varied from as few as five to more than 30. In 1731 the number was fixed by Clement XII at fourteen. Eight of these commemorated events in the Gospels and six were taken from early tradition.

On Good Friday 1991, Pope John Paul II, according to long standing papal tradition, led a crowd of people at the Roman Colosseum through the Stations of the Cross. However, he changed the format, altering the fourteen stations. Some of the traditional ones were kept, while others were dropped and new ones added, using only incidents recorded recorded in the Gospels. Also since Vatican II it has become quite common to add a 15th Station: the Resurrection.

The Stations in our church at Leatherhead were designed by Eric Gill and were completed in 1924. They, therefore, depict the 14 traditional Stations of the Cross.