The Catholic Church of St Oswald and St Edmund Arrowsmith is located on Liverpool Road in
Ashton-in-Makerfield, Greater Manchester, England.
Building
The first Catholic church on the site was built in 1822. The old church was demolished and the foundation stone of the new building was laid in 1925.
The present church was constructed in the
Romanesque style and completed in 1930, with the architect being J. K. Brocklesby.
The bell tower, on the right of the
facade is a notable landmark with its green copper pyramid roof that can be seen on the drive into Ashton from Stubshaw Cross. The interior has two
saucer dome
A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
s and an
apse
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
. The altar itself has marble flooring and four red carpets. It has four seats either side for the Altar servers to be seated. At the back of the altar is the Tabernacle, and eight candles. Above the altar are stained glass windows of saints designed by
Harry Clarke
Henry Patrick Clarke (17 March 1889 – 6 January 1931) was an Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator. Born in Dublin, he was a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement.
His work was influenced by both the Art Nouveau an ...
.
The presbytery and the church gates, which both date from 1822, are also Grade II Listed.
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
described the church as "totally outdated" but "ambitious" and "impressive".
Relic
The church houses a holy relic, the hand of St
Edmund Arrowsmith
Edmund Arrowsmith ''(baptized as "Brian Arrowsmith")'', SJ (c. 1585 – 28 August 1628) was one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales of the Catholic Church. The main source of information on Arrowsmith is a contemporary account written ...
, who was one of the
Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
[Ryan, Patrick W.F. "Ven. Edmund Arrowsmith." The Catholic Encyclopedia]
Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 17 February 2018
Parish priests
*
Canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western ca ...
James O'Meara 1896–1946
*
Fr John Joseph McLaughlin 1946–1950
*
Canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western ca ...
Robert Wilfrid Meagher 1950–1970
*
Canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western ca ...
Francis J Ripley 1970–1991
*
Fr Brian Newns 1991–2019
*
Fr John Gorman 2019–
See also
*
Listed buildings in Ashton-in-Makerfield
References
{{Archdiocese of Liverpool
Roman Catholic churches in Greater Manchester
Buildings and structures in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan
Ashton-in-Makerfield
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool