St Walburge'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 ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, 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 Joseph Aloysius Hansom (26 October 1803 – 29 June 1882) was a British architect working principally in the Gothic Revival style. He invented the Hansom cab and founded the eminent architectural journal, ''The Builder'', in 1843. Career Ha ...

, 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 In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. In 2014

Michael Campbell Michael Shane Campbell (born 23 February 1969) is a New Zealand professional golfer who is best known for having won the 2005 U.S. Open and, at the time, the richest prize in golf, the £1,000,000 HSBC World Match Play Championship, in the s ...

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...

for Eucharistic Devotion.Lancaster Diocese Pastoral Letter April 4 2014
, accessed 7 April 2014

Dedication

St Walburge's is dedicated to Saint Walpurga, an English saint, born 710 AD., daughter of St Richard, a West Saxon king. With her two brothers, St Willibald and St Winibald, she went to Germany as a missionary. She was renowned for her miraculous healing of illnesses.

History

St Walburge's Church is situated in the Maudlands district of Preston, so called because of its association with St

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...

of which name the word "Maudlands" is a corruption. St Walburge's is located near the site of a 12th-century leprosy hospital dedicated to St Mary Magdalene.Open Churches Trust
accessed 25 October 2008 In 1847, at the time of the Roman Catholic revival in England, and with prosperity brought by the textile mills of Lancashire, the architect

was commissioned to build a large church. Work began on the construction of the church in May 1850, and it was ready for its opening ceremony on 3 August 1854. The church was further extended in 1873 by the addition of a polygonal sanctuary with a central window high. In 2007 St Walburge's, along with several other churches in Preston, was threatened with closure by the Catholic Diocese of Lancaster. The quality of its architecture, its significance to the parish and its landmark status in Preston led to great interest in its fate, and the closure was given a stay of seven years from August 2008 while local fund-raising drives sought to supplement grants for the restoration of the building.The Victorian Society
accessed 25 October 2008 David Garrard, the Historic Churches Adviser of the Victorian Society said:

An outstanding building by an ingenious and imaginative architect, St Walburge’s is one of Preston’s greatest historic buildings. It was built to express the pride and confidence of the Roman Catholic community after legal restrictions on religious observance were lifted in the 19th century. To close it now would cost local people access to some of Lancashire’s richest heritage.

On 4 April 2014

Roman Catholic Bishop of Lancaster The Bishop of Lancaster is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lancaster in the Province of Liverpool, England.Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, and I – together with Father Simon Hawksworth - have agreed, to establish a foundation of the Institute at the Church of St Walburge, Preston - hopefully in the autumn. The arrival and presence of the institute in the church and presbytery at St Walburge’s will enable the sustainability and care of this magnificent church so that it can be open each day as a shrine or centre for Eucharistic devotion and adoration. St Walburge’s will remain part of the Parish of St Walburge and the Sacred Heart but will specifically provide for the celebration of Holy Mass and the other Sacraments in the

Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite In the Catholic Church, the use of preconciliar rites after the Second Vatican Council has resulted in certain Latin liturgical rites coexisting with older ("preconciliar": "before the Second Vatican Council") versions of those same rites. In the ...

. It is envisaged, however, that the current Ordinary Form Mass, will continue to be celebrated here on Sunday for as long as there is a pastoral need... The Shrine Church was officially opened on 27 September 2014, with a High Mass celebrated by Gilles Wach, Prior General of the Institute of Christ the King, in the presence of Bishop Campbell. The Mass is celebrated daily at the Shrine and the Sacraments are offered in the Traditional Roman Rite according to the charter of the Institute of Christ the King."Who we are", Institute of Christ the King
, accessed 7 April 2014 There is also an Ordinary Form of Mass on Saturday evening celebrated by the local parish administrator for the members of the former parish.

Architecture and features

Spire

Externally, St Walburge's spire, rising to is the dominant landmark in Preston and is one of the tallest structures of any sort in Lancashire. After

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

and Norwich Cathedrals, it is the third tallest spire in the United Kingdom, and is the tallest on a

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, ...

. The steeple is constructed from limestone sleepers which originally carried the nearby Preston and Longridge Railway, giving the spire a red tint during sunset. In 2014 the church was featured in the BBC series ''Fred Dibnah's Magnificent Monuments'' when the spire was the last to be worked upon by steeplejack and TV personality

Fred Dibnah Frederick Travis Dibnah, (29 April 1938 – 6 November 2004) was an English steeplejack and television personality, with a keen interest in mechanical engineering, who described himself as a "backstreet mechanic". When Dibnah w ...

. He installed his red ladders to inspect the steeple, but television filming commitments then meant he was unable to complete the job. The ladders were left at the church for several years and were donated to the tradesman who eventually took the job. The tower contains a single bell of 31 cwt (1.5 tonnes) cast by

Mears and Stainbank The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells a ...

of Whitechapel which is the heaviest swinging bell in Lancashire. The use of the bell is restricted, due to protected birds nesting in the belfry, meaning it can only be rung in winter months. St Walburge's, Preston

The spire is occasionally open to the public at weekend evenings, via on-line booking. A small ticket charge is made in aid of church funds.

Exterior

St Walburge's is renowned not just for its height but also for the inventive quality of its architecture, in which the architect has looked to Gothic models, employing the traditional features in a creative and harmonious way. The Open Churches Trust says of St Walburge's that it "undoubtedly an architectural gem of the North West of England." The

New Red Sandstone The New Red Sandstone, chiefly in British geology, is composed of beds of red sandstone and associated rocks laid down throughout the Permian (300 million years ago) to the end of the Triassic (about 200 million years ago), that under ...

facade presents as an unaisled church with a very steep gable. A strongly horizontal arcade, divides the facade into two zones, balanced by strongly projecting buttresses and corner pinnacles typical of many English Gothic cathedrals. The arcade is countered by the verticality of strongly projecting buttresses and corner pinnacles typical of many English Gothic cathedrals. The upper zone is dominated by a rose window in diameter occupying almost the full width of the nave.

Interior

The interior, which seats about 1,000 people, is long and wide. The open wooden roof of is supported of fourteen hammerbeams, on the ends of which stand lifesized carved the figures of saints. The church contains an organ by William Hill of London, 1855. Other significant features include a wooden triptych and a crucifix with the shield of Preston and the motto "Princeps Pacis".

St. Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian, ...

is also prominently represented to the right in the sanctuary, echoing the influence of the Jesuit priests still active in the city. The

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

s of Great Britain are also represented.

Gallery

File:St Walburge RC Church.jpg, Inside the nave facing east towards the altar File:St Walburge RC Church 2.jpg, Inside the nave facing west towards the back of the church File:St Walburge on winter evening.jpg, By night, from the east File:St Walburge's Church spire, Preston 231-10.jpg, Viewed from the top of the car park of the Mall (St George's) Shopping Centre File:St Walburgh Catholic Church, Preston - geograph.org.uk - 746343.jpg, West end from Weston Street File:St Walburgh Catholic Church, Preston, Doorway - geograph.org.uk - 746303.jpg, Doorway

Notes

External links

Saint Walburges Church WebsiteThe Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Preston, Saint Walburge Saint Walburge Saint Walburge Roman Catholic churches in Lancashire Grade I listed churches in Lancashire Roman Catholic Diocese of Lancaster Grade I listed Roman Catholic churches in England Roman Catholic churches completed in 1873 Buildings by Joseph Hansom 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Roman Catholic shrines in the United Kingdom