St Bartholomew's Church is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

Rainhill Rainhill is a village and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 10,853. Historically part of Lancashire, Rainhill was formerly a townsh ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

. It was built in 1838-40 in the style of the Church of San Bartolomeo all'Isola in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Grade II listed, it is situated on the A57 Warrington Road, opposite Rainhill Hall and was described by

Nicholas 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 ...

as 'The noblest Catholic church in South Lancashire'.

History

Origin

The church was founded by

Bartholomew Bretherton Bartholomew Bretherton (c.17751857) was a coach proprietor and landowner who lived in Rainhill, near Liverpool. He founded St Bartholomew's Church, Rainhill and owned Rainhill House, which became Loyola Hall. Biography He was born at Stonyhur ...

(d. 1857) who was the owner of the family coaching business and main landowner in Rainhill.British History Online
retrieved 1 September 2013 He lived at Rainhill Hall (opposite the church and known as

Loyola Hall Rainhill Hall or Loyola Hall is a Grade II listed country house built in the 19th century in Rainhill, Merseyside, England, by Bartholomew Bretherton. It is situated on the Warrington Road, next to St Bartholomew's Church. From 1923 to 2014, ...

from 1923 until 2014 when occupied by the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

). As well as being a business and landowner, he was also uncle of

(1812-1866) a winner of the

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...

in 1840. Before it was built, the Catholics in Rainhill had to travel to the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

church in

Prescot Prescot is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it lies about to the east of Liverpool city centre. At the 2001 Census, the civ ...

, Our Lady Help of Christians Church or St Bede's Church in

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...

Construction

Bartholomew Bretherton chose the location where the church would be built, on the Warrington Road, in direct sight of anyone travelling down the main road through the village. He also chose the design for the church and wanted it to be dedicated to his own patron saint,

Saint Bartholomew Bartholomew (Aramaic: ; grc, Βαρθολομαῖος, translit=Bartholomaîos; la, Bartholomaeus; arm, Բարթողիմէոս; cop, ⲃⲁⲣⲑⲟⲗⲟⲙⲉⲟⲥ; he, בר-תולמי, translit=bar-Tôlmay; ar, بَرثُولَماو� ...

. The design he chose was by a local architect, Joshua Dawson. The architect went to

to look at the Church of San Bartolomeo all'Isola there. In 1838, building started and the stones were taken from a local quarry that the Bretherton family owned. The foundation stone was laid by Bartholomew Bretherton's daughter, Mrs Mary Gerard in April 1838. The building was completed two years later. The total cost was £8,000 and it was formally opened and consecrated on 24 August by the

Vicar Apostolic of the Lancashire District The Apostolic Vicariate of the Lancashire District was an ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in England. It was led by a vicar apostolic who was a titular bishop. The apostolic vicariate was created in 1840 and was replaced by t ...

George Hilary Brown George Hilary Brown (1784 – 1856) was an English prelate who served as the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Liverpool from 1850 to 1856. Early life George Hilary Brown was born in Clifton, Lancashire on 15 January 1784, the son of William Bro ...

. Nine years later, in 1849, an Italian-style

Bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

was added to the side of the church. Bartholomew's daughter, Mary, added a lady chapel or chantry in 1845 in memory of her first husband, William Gerard of New Hall, Ashton-in-Makerfield. Other additions were also made in later years, notably, the imposing sandstone gateway to the grounds and the surrounding walls. Mary, her parents and Mary's two husbands are all interred in the church.

Parish

Surrounding the church is a cemetery. Buried there are the members of the Stapleton-Bretherton family who owned the surrounding land and Rainhill Hall. They include Evelyn, Princess Blücher (1876-1960) and her husband Prince Gebhard Blücher von Wahlstatt (1865-1931), a descendant of General-Field-Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (1742–1819) who commanded the

Prussian Army The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power. The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...

at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

in 1815.Dyckhoff SJ, Christopher (1994). ''A Quiet Place: A History of Loyola Hall'' St. Helens, p.7 Also buried in the church cemetery is Kenneth Dewar (1879–1964) who was a vice-admiral in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

and was in the

Battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland (german: Skagerrakschlacht, the Battle of the Skagerrak) was a naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy ...

. He was married to Gertrude Stapleton-Bretherton, Evelyn's sister. The church shares a priest with the nearby St Theresa of the Child Jesus Church in Sutton Manor. St Bartholomew's has Sunday Mass at 5:15 pm on Saturday and at 9:30 am on Sunday. It also has Masses at 9:15 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Accordingly, St Theresa's Mass times do not conflict, they are at 6:45 pm on Saturday and 11:00 am on Sunday. Their weekday Masses are at 8:15 am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The church featured episodes of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

soap opera ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...

''. There was a marriage ceremony and a funeral filmed there.

Exterior and grounds

File:Gate to St Bartholomew's Church, Rainhill.JPG, Gate File:St. Bartholomew's Roman Catholic Church, Rainhill - geograph.org.uk - 28216.jpg, View from Warrington Road File:St Bartholomews on a frosty New Year's day - geograph.org.uk - 1118843.jpg, View from St Bartholomew's Primary School playing field

References

External links

St Bartholomew's Parish siteArchitectural heritage details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Bartholomew's Church, Rainhill Grade II listed churches in Merseyside Roman Catholic churches in Merseyside Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in England Roman Catholic churches completed in 1840 1840 establishments in England 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool Neoclassical church buildings in England