Annunciation Church is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. It was founded by the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

in 1854. Located in Spencer Street, near Saltergate and off-Newbold Road, it was designed by the 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 ''Building (magazine), The Builder'' i ...

and is a Grade II listed building.British listed buildings
retrieved 16 December 2013

History

In 1840, the Jesuits founded

Mount St Mary's College Mount St Mary's College is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private, co-educational, day and boarding school situated at Spinkhill, Derbyshire, England. It was founded in 1842 by the Society of Jesus (better known as the Jesuits), and h ...

in Spinkhill. From there they missioned to the local Catholics in the area. In the 1850s they decided to build a church in Chesterfield. Joseph Hansom was asked to design the church. He designed numerous churches for the Jesuits, such as

Our Lady Immaculate and St Joseph Church, Prescot Our Lady Immaculate and St Joseph Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Prescot, Merseyside. It was built in 1856-57 by the Society of Jesus, and is now in the Knowsley deanery of the Archdiocese of Liverpool. It is a Grade II listed buildin ...

, the St Walburge's Church, Preston, St Joseph's Church, Leigh, the Holy Name Church, Manchester and St Aloysius Gonzaga Church, Oxford. The Jesuit influence is visible in the church in the window immediately before the entrance to the Sacristy. It shows a priest saying Mass before a group of Jesuits. Among those depicted are St Ignatius Loyola and

St Francis Xavier Francis Xavier, SJ (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; ; ; ; ; ; 7 April 15063 December 1552), venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Navarrese cleric and missionary. He co-founded the Society of Jesus and, as a representative o ...

.A Guide to the Church
from Annunciation.org.uk retrieved 20 October 2013 In 1881, the current organ was installed, it was built by Henry Willis Senior of

Henry Willis & Sons Henry Willis & Sons is a British firm of pipe organ builders founded in 1845. Although most of their installations have been in the UK, examples can be found in other countries. Five generations of the Willis family served as principals of th ...

. At some point in the early to mid-20th century the administration of the parish was handed over by the Jesuits to the

Diocese of Nottingham The Diocese of Nottingham () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic church in England and a suffragan of the Metropolitan Diocese of Westminster. The diocese covers an area of , taking in the English counties of Nottinghamshire (now exclu ...

. In 1980, Chesterfield and other parts of north Derbyshire became part of the then newly created

Diocese of Hallam The Diocese of Hallam () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in England. The diocese comprises the whole of the City of Sheffield, and the surrounding towns of Rotherham, Doncaster, Barnsley, Chesterfield ...

who continue to serve the parish. In 1990-1991, the church was reordered and the high altar was removed, part of it remains as the pedestal for a statue of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

Parish

The church has four Sunday Masses. They are at 8:30am, 10:00am and 6:00pm and a 1:15pm Mass in Polish. There are weekday Masses at 9:00am at the nearby convent of the

Daughters of Divine Charity The Congregation of the Daughters of Divine Charity are an international congregation of Roman Catholic religious sisters. The motherhouse is in Vienna. The congregation uses the post-nominal “FDC”, from the Latin, ''Filiae Divinae Caritatis''. ...

who run St Joseph's School.Mass times
from AnnunciationHolyFamily.org, retrieved 26 October 2019 Within the parish are two schools that have a relationship with the church. St Mary's Catholic Primary School is on Cross Street in the buildings where

St Mary's Roman Catholic High School, Chesterfield St Mary's Catholic High School is a Catholic, co-educational, secondary school with academy status in Upper Newbold, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, which specialises in the teaching of Maths and History. The school was rated Outstanding in all a ...

used to be, before it moved to Newbold Street.

References

External links

Annunciation Parish site

St Mary's Primary School site

St Mary's High School site
{{Authority control Chesterfield, Annunciation Roman Catholic churches in Derbyshire Annunciation Church Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in England Roman Catholic churches completed in 1874 1874 establishments in England Gothic Revival architecture in Derbyshire Gothic Revival church buildings in England Buildings by Joseph Hansom 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Roman Catholic Diocese of Hallam

History

Parish

See also

References

External links