St Anne's Church, Blackburn

St Anne's Church

Front entrance
St Anne's Church
Location in Blackburn
Coordinates: 53°44′48″N 2°29′16″W / 53.746752°N 2.487730°W / 53.746752; -2.487730
OS grid reference SD 67934 27933
Location Blackburn, Lancashire
Country United Kingdom
Denomination Roman Catholic
Website SacredHeartBlackburn.org.uk
History
Dedication Saint Anne
Events Rebuilt in 2004
Architecture
Status Active
Functional status Parish church
Architect(s) Hill, Sandy & Norris
Style Lombard Romanesque
Groundbreaking 1925
Completed 24 December 1926
Construction cost £20,000
Administration
Parish Sacred Heart and St Anne[1]
Deanery Blackburn
Diocese Salford
Province Liverpool

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 also were also behind the construction of St John the Baptist Church in Rochdale. It is situated on the corner of Prince's Street and Paradise Street, next to St Anne's Catholic Primary School and close to King Street in the centre of the town. It was built in the Lombard Romanesque style, in 2002 suffered an arson attack which gutted the building and was rebuilt in 2004.[2][3][4]

History

St Alban's Church, from which St Anne's Church was founded.

St Alban's Church

St Alban's Church was the first Roman Catholic to be built in Blackburn since the English Reformation. It was from St Alban's Church that St Anne's Church was founded. In 1773, a pair of cottages on Chapel Street were turned into a chapel. In 1781, a purpose-built chapel was constructed next to the converted cottages. It was paid for by a Mrs Mary Hodgson and cost £400. In 1819, Fr James Sharples became priest of the Blackburn mission. In 1823, he bought a site for a larger church in the Larkhill part of Blackburn. From 1824 to 1826, a church was built on that site. It was a Georgian building with a Romanesque Revival tower. In the 1880s and 1890s, plans were made to build a larger church on the site by the priests of the church, Dean John Newton (died 1896) and Canon Peter Lonsdale. The architect was Edward Goldie. On 13 October 1898, the foundation stone was laid by the Bishop of Salford, Herbert Vaughan. On 8 December 1901, the church was opened. The firm behind the construction of the church was John Boland of Blackburn and the building cost £20,000.[5]

Foundation of St Anne's Church

From 1848, a mission was established in the centre of Blackburn from St Alban's Church. That year a building housing a church and school was built on Paradise Street. It was designed by Weightman and Hadfield. In August 1849, it opened. In 1852, the church was rebuilt, so that it could accommodate 500 people. In 1869, this church was extended by adding a new sanctuary, mortuary chapel, aisle and baptistry.[6]

Construction

In 1925, the foundation stone of the present church was laid by Fr William Shine. It was constructed on the site of the building that housed the church and school in 1848. It cost an estimated £20,000, had a capacity of 800 people and was designed by the Hill, Sandy & Norris architectural firm. Fr Shine died a few days after laying the foundation stone. The next priest for the church, Fr Thomas Henshaw, became the Bishop of Salford after a few months. His successor, Fr Thomas Singleton, oversaw the remaining construction. At midnight of 24 December 1926, the church was opened. Over the course of the next two years, the interior was added to with the installation of side altars dedicated to the Sacred Heart and the Blessed Virgin Mary, altar rails, a sanctuary lamp, marble pulpit, organ and baptismal font.[6]

In 1932, the high altar was installed. In 1947, the church that was built in 1852 was turned into a parish hall. In 1966, the presbytery was replaced by the present one. It was designed by the firm, Desmond Williams & Associates from Manchester.[6]

Rebuilding

In 2000, with the depopulation of the town, plans were drawn up for the church to be reduced in size. In December 2002, the church was damaged by an arson attack. A campaign was started with the aim of raising £600,000 to repair the church and reduce it in size, so that it could accommodate 200 people. The west side of the church was rebuilt and the area in front of the church was redesigned.[6]

Parish

Sacred Heart Church in Blackburn, which serves St Anne's Church.

Sacred Heart Church

St Anne's Church is served from Sacred Heart Church in Blackburn. In 1900, Sacred Heart Church was founded as a mission from St Anne's Church, by Fr Edward Woods. On 5 May 1900, the foundation stone of Sacred Heart Church was laid by the Bishop of Salford, John Bilsborrow. The church was originally located on the corner of St Silas' Road and Leamington Road in the town. On 14 July 1901, the church was opened by Bishop Bilsborrow. On 29 October 1905, Sacred Heart Church became its own parish. On 15 October 1937, the foundation stone of the present Sacred Heart Church was laid by Bishop Henshaw. On 30 September 1938, the church was opened and the first Mass there was said.[4]

Good Shepherd Church, in the same parish as St Alban's Church.

Times

St Anne's Church has one Sunday Mass, at 12:30pm. Sacred Heart Church has two Sunday Masses at 6:15pm on Saturday and at 10:30am on Sunday.[7]

St Alban's Church is part of the St Alban and Good Shepherd Parish together with Good Shepherd Church on Earl Street, Blackburn, and Holy Souls Church on Whalley New Road in Brownhill. St Alban's Church has three Sunday Masses at 6:30pm on Saturday, and 9:00am and 11:15am on Sunday. Good Shepherd Church has one Sunday Mass at 10:15am. Holy Souls Church has two Sunday Masses at 10:00am and 5:00pm.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ SacredHeartBlackburn.org.uk retrieved 14 February 2016
  2. ↑ Emma Cruces, Blackburn church boosted by Polish services from Lancashire Telegraph, 12 October 2008, retrieved 14 February 2016
  3. ↑ St Anne's Church from Blackburn Heritage, retrieved 14 February 2016
  4. 1 2 History from SacredHeartBlackburn.org.uk, retrieved 14 February 2016
  5. ↑ Blackburn - St Alban from English Heritage, retrieved 15 February 2016
  6. 1 2 3 4 Blackburn - St Anne from English Heritage, retrieved 14 February 2016
  7. 1 2 Directory from Diocese of Salford, retrieved 14 February 2016
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 4/6/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.