English Martyrs Church | |
---|---|
Church of St Thomas of Canterbury and the English Martyrs, Preston | |
OS grid reference | SD5367730545 |
Location | Preston, Lancashire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Website | EnglishMartyrsPreston.org.uk |
History | |
Status | Parish church |
Founded | January 22, 1865 |
Founder(s) | Bishop Alexander Goss |
Dedication | St Thomas Becket and the English Martyrs |
Dedicated | 1 December 1867 |
Consecrated | 14 September 1921 |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Active |
Heritage designation | Grade II |
Designated | 2 September 1985 [1] |
Architect(s) | Edward Welby Pugin |
Style | Gothic Revival |
Groundbreaking | 26 May 1866 |
Completed | 9 February 1888 |
Specifications | |
Capacity | 850 |
Length | 154 ft (47 m) |
Width | 92 ft (28 m) |
Height | 69 ft (21 m) |
Administration | |
Province | Liverpool |
Diocese | Lancaster |
Deanery | Preston [2] |
English Martyrs Church or its full name The Church of St Thomas of Canterbury and the English Martyrs is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Preston, Lancashire. It was designed by Edward Welby Pugin and is under the administration of the Diocese of Lancaster. It is near to Preston city centre and stands on the corner of the A6, between Aqueduct Street and St George's Road. Since 2017, it has been in the care of priests from the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. [3]
English Martyrs Church is built on the site of an area that used to be called Gallows Hill. It received that name after the Battle of Preston of the Jacobite rising of 1715. After the government overcame the rebel army, it was on Gallows Hill that the rebel prisoners were executed. On 5 January 1715, it was recorded that sixteen rebels 'were hanged upon Gallows Hill, for high treason and conspiracy.' [4]
In May 1817, evidence of this was found when the area was dug up to improve the road heading north (the A6 road), and two coffins were found containing the remains of two headless bodies. A brass hand axe was also unearthed, with portions of timber which were assumed to be part of the gallows. [5]
In 1864, when the English Martyrs mission was founded, the Diocese of Lancaster did not yet exist. Instead, it was the then Bishop of Liverpool who served the Catholic churches in Preston. In 1864, Bishop Alexander Goss sent Fr James Taylor to a house called Wren's Cottage. The cottage was a quarter of mile north of the present church. The house was made available for the priest and the stable was converted into a chapel. [4] The first Mass was said there on 25 December 1864 and it was officially opened on 22 January 1865. [5]
As the chapel was only temporary and could fit 145 people, plans were drawn up to build a church that could accommodate a larger congregation. It was agreed when Wren's Cottage was bought that a church would not be built on the site, so the Corporation of Preston sold the land around Gallows Hill for the construction of the church. [4]
On 26 May 1866, Bishop Goss laid the foundation stone for the church. It was designed by Edward Welby Pugin, the eldest son of Augustus Pugin. The church was initially meant to have a spire, but a lack of funds prevented it from being built. [4]
On 1 December 1867, the church was officially opened by Bishop Goss with the assistance of the Bishop of Nottingham, Richard Roskell. [5]
In 1874, Fr James Taylor left and was replaced by Fr Joseph A. Pyke. In 1886, he became rector of the church and immediately sought a solution to accommodating the increasing church congregation. He decided that the church needed to be enlarged so he brought in Edward Welby Pugin again to design an extension to the church. [5]
The new plans added two new bays to the nave and aisles, a new chancel, two transepts, chapels, two additional confessionals, sacristies, and a room for meetings. An entrance was to be provided from St. George's Road to the south transept by a porch. The nave was to be divided from the chancel by an arch. The estimated cost of the extension was about £8,000. [5]
The foundation stone of the new buildings was laid by the Bishop of Liverpool Bernard O'Reilly in 1887, and building work was finished in 1888.
On 8 February 1888, there was a solemn re-opening of the church. There were many church dignitaries present at the ceremony such as Bishop O'Reilly, Auxiliary Bishop Donnelly of Dublin, Bishop MacDonald of Argyll and the Isles, Bishop Hedley of Newport and Menevia, Bishop Knight of Shrewsbury, Bishop Vaughan of Salford and Bishop Lacy of Middlesbrough. [5]
In 1902, Fr Pyke and was succeeded by his nephew, Fr Edward J. Pyke. During his time at the church, he worked to remove the debts that the church had accumulated from its construction and extension. Furthermore, he oversaw the handling of the parish, the nearby Catholic schools and the consecration of the church. [5]
On 14 September 1921, the church was consecrated in a ceremony presided over by the Archbishop of Liverpool, Frederick Keating, with assistance from Bishop Casartelli of Salford, Bishop Cowgill of Leeds, Bishop Singleton of Shrewsbury and Auxiliary Bishop Vaughan of Salford. [5]
In 2012, the presbytery adjacent to the church was sold to L'Arche a nearby charity that houses communities for those with learning disabilities. The furniture and paintings in the house were auctioned off, including Gothic style furniture from the time of the church's construction in the 1860s and 1880s. The auction also featured a selection of oil paintings on canvas depicting martyrs, saints and other religious scenes, six watercolour scenes by Preston artist Edwin Beattie, brass candlesticks and ornamental crucifixes. [6]
On 11 July 2017, the Bishop of Lancaster, Michael Campbell announced that the church and parish would be entrusted to the care of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. The Institute have also been administering St Walburge's Church in Preston since 2014.
Near to the church is English Martyrs Catholic Primary School. The school's mission statement says that it is 'based on the values in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ.' The school has links with the parish and attends regular Masses in the church. [7]
Since the creation of the new parish of St John XXIII, Latin Low Mass is held in the church every day at midday, with rosary and devotions to the English Martyrs every Friday after Mass. Every Saturday at 10:00am there is eucharistic adoration with confessions followed by Low Mass. Every Sunday there is a Latin Low Mass is at 09:00am followed by refreshments and socialising. [8]
Ushaw College, is a former Catholic seminary near the village of Ushaw Moor, County Durham, England, which is now a heritage and cultural tourist attraction. The college is known for its Georgian and Victorian Gothic architecture and listed nineteenth-century chapels. The college now hosts a programme of art exhibitions, music and theatre events, alongside tearooms and a café.
St Walburge's Church is a Roman Catholic church in Preston, Lancashire, England, northwest of the city centre on Weston Street. The church was built in the mid-19th century to a design by the Gothic Revival architect Joseph Hansom, the designer of the hansom cab, and is famous as having the tallest spire of any parish church in England. St Walburge's is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade I listed building.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church that covers the Isle of Man and part of North West England. The episcopal see is Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. The archdiocese is the centre of the Ecclesiastical Province of Liverpool which covers the north of England as well as the Isle of Man.
Dunsop Bridge is a village in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England, 9 miles (14 km) north-west of Clitheroe, 15 miles (24 km) south-east of Lancaster and 24.5 miles (39 km) west of Skipton. It is in the civil parish of Bowland Forest High. Historically, the village is part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, but was placed under the administration of Lancashire County Council on 1 April 1974.
Edward Welby Pugin was an English architect, the eldest son of architect Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and Louisa Barton and part of the Pugin & Pugin family of church architects. His father was an architect and designer of Neo-Gothic architecture, and after his death in 1852 Edward took up his successful practice. At the time of his own early death in 1875, Pugin had designed and completed more than one hundred Catholic churches.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lancaster is a Latin Church Roman Catholic diocese centred on Lancaster Cathedral in the city of Lancaster in Lancashire, England.
Brian Michael Noble was an English prelate who served in the Roman Catholic Church as the Bishop of Shrewsbury from 1995 to 2010.
St Mary's Church, or St Mary's Priory, is in the town centre of Warrington, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building, and is an active Catholic church. The parish was established and served by Benedictine monks from Ampleforth Abbey, but following the withdrawal of Ampleforth Abbey from the parish in 2012, it was served by the priest from St Benedict's Church, Warrington. From November 2015, the church has been owned and served by priests from the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) as a shrine church dedicated to the celebration of the sacraments of the pre-Vatican II form of the Roman Rite. It is well known for the beauty and reverence of its liturgy.
Sacred Heart Church is a Roman Catholic church in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, on Talbot Road close to the town centre. It was the first Roman Catholic church built in Blackpool and has been designated a Grade II* listed building by English Heritage.
Lancashire is a county in North West England. In 1974 parts of the historic county were divided between Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire and Cumbria, and part of the West Riding of Yorkshire was transferred into the county, creating the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire. Together with the unitary authorities of Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool it now forms the ceremonial county of Lancashire.
The Syro-Malabar Cathedral of St Alphonsa also known as St Ignatius Church is a Catholic cathedral of the Syro-Malabar rite in Preston, Lancashire. It is the cathedral of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Great Britain, and was previously under the Diocese of Lancaster. It is situated close to the Preston city centre, with the entrance on Meadow Street. The building was opened in 1836 and was the first church in Preston to have a spire.
St Francis of Assisi Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Birmingham. While the church is located between the Lozells and Hockley parts of the city, the parish covers most of Handsworth. It was founded in 1840, originally as a chapel in the nearby listed building, St. Mary's Convent designed by Augustus Pugin.
St Michael and St John the Evangelist Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Clitheroe, Lancashire, England. It is situated on Lowergate road close to the centre of the town. It was endowed in 1799 by the Catholic philanthropist Thomas Weld and staffed by members of the Society of Jesus. When the original building became St Michael and St John's Catholic Primary School in 1850, the church moved next-door to the school. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
Mount St Mary's Church or the Church of the Immaculate Virgin Mary is a Grade II* listed building and a redundant Roman Catholic church in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1851 and designed by Joseph Hansom, with extensions by Edward Pugin. It is next to Mount St Mary's Catholic High School, Leeds.
St John the Evangelist's Church is in Ribby Road, Kirkham, Lancashire, England. It is an active Roman Catholic parish church in the diocese of Lancaster. The church was designed by A. W. N. Pugin, and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
St Anne's Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. It was founded in 1848, built in 1926 and designed by the architectural firm of Hill, Sandy & Norris of Manchester, who were also behind the construction of St John the Baptist Church in Rochdale.
Paul Swarbrick is a Roman Catholic prelate, who has served as Bishop of Lancaster since 2018.
St Peter's Church is a Roman Catholic Parish Church in Stonyhurst. It is the parish church for Hurst Green, Lancashire and a chapel for Stonyhurst College. It was built from 1832 to 1835 and designed by Joseph John Scoles in the Gothic Revival style. It was founded by the Society of Jesus and has been served by Jesuit priests since. It is a Grade I listed building.
St Mary's Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Stockton-on-Tees. It was built in 1842 and designed by Augustus Pugin in the Gothic Revival style. According to Historic England, the current building was first permanent Roman Catholic church to be built in Teesside since the Reformation. It is located in the town centre, on the corner of Norton Road and Major Street, with the A1305 road to the north of it. It is a Grade II listed building.
St Mary's Church is a Roman Catholic church in Morecambe, Lancashire, England. It is the first Catholic Church in Morecambe to be built after the Reformation. It is located on the corner of Lord Street and Matthias Street in the centre of the town. It was built in 1895 and designed by Pugin & Pugin in the Gothic Revival style.